Grizzlies’ Jaylen Wells gets initial update after scary injury vs. Hornets

The Memphis Grizzlies are battling for playoff seeding in a very tight Western Conference, but they have bigger things to worry about on Tuesday night. Promising rookie Jaylen Wells took a very scary fall during the Grizzlies’ clash against the Charlotte Hornets and landed awkwardly after being undercut by KJ Simpson.

Wells was down on the floor for a while before being stretchered off. He is awake and moving, according to Chris Dodson of ClutchPoints.

“I’m told Jaylen Wells is awake, moving, with family, ‘Probably concussed’ and waiting on X-rays,” Dodson reported on X, formerly Twitter. “Swollen wrist, pain everywhere you’d expect.”

This is a great sign for Wells after what was a terrifying fall and a hard landing. While it’s encouraging that he is up and moving, the play did not come without injury. Wells suffered a broken wright wrist, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.

“Wells has sustained a broken right wrist, [Wells’ agent Aman] Dhesi said, and will continue receiving medical care,” Sharania reported.

Even after Wells left the game, the Grizzlies were able to continue playing good basketball and come away with a huge win the Western Conference playoff picture. Memphis came out on top 124-100 in Charlotte to improve to 47-32.

The Grizzlies are trying to stay above the play-in in the West, and they need to continue stacking wins over the last three games of the season in order to do so. This win got Memphis into a tie for fourth in the West with the Denver Nuggets before the two face off on Friday night. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors are also right there in the standings, so it will be a tough race over the final week of the regular season.

Despite firing head coach Taylor Jenkins, the Grizzlies seem to have steadied themselves a little bit and are now fighting for one of those playoff spots and possibly home-court in the first round. However, losing Wells is a big blow to that goal.