Memphis loses Brandon Clarke for rest of season—and likely most of next

Clarke fell to the ground with a non-contact injury at the end of the first quarter Friday night. It looked bad at the time, and Saturday's news confirms the worst-case scenario for the Grizzlies. Clarke will miss the rest of the season, and Memphis should expect him to miss most of 2023-24 as well with an Achilles tear.

The Grizzlies' big man now faces possible surgery and a grueling rehabilitation process to get back on the court. The injury has a recovery period of at least ten months, meaning the most optimistic projections would have Clarke back on the floor in mid-January of next year.

Klay Thompson was out almost 14 months after tearing his Achilles in 2020, though he was also recovering from an ACL tear. Kevin Durant missed 18 months, but would have likely been back sooner had the 2020-21 season not been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Wes Matthews made it back for the season opener in 2015 after tearing his Achilles in March, coming back in under eight months.

In the last 24 hours, Memphis has seen Morant brandish a firearm on Instagram live and Dillon Brooks pick up a suspension for his league-leading 16th technical foul. Morant is suspended for at least two games, and Brooks for one.

Now they're also missing Clarke, one of their top frontcourt reserves. Clarke has a 131 offensive rating, best on the team, and a defensive rating of 108, third only to Jaren Jackson Jr. and Steven Adams.

He's also part of Memphis' two best lineups, among combinations that have played more than 25 minutes together. The five-man unit of Morant, Brooks, Desmond Bane, Jackson and Clarke has outscored opponents by 26.8 points per 100 possessions. When subbing Tyus Jones and John Konchar for Morant and Bane, they have a net rating of 26.8.

Memphis will likely cover his absence with more minutes for Santi Aldama and Xavier Tillman, but it's a brutal blow for a team that's been struggling. They've gone 7-11 in their last 18 games, and now sit only one game ahead of the Sacramento Kings in second place in the Western Conference.

At least the Grizzlies will be getting center Steven Adams back soon. But they're going to be shorthanded at a very difficult time of year—and without Clarke for a while.