Despite dealing with an ankle injury, Morant played a significant role in the Grizzlies’ blowout win over the Mavs. He had an injection to help his ankle on Thursday, and it paid off in the first half as he contributed 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals prior to the break. Unfortunately, he struggled after halftime, which nearly allowed Dallas to complete a big comeback. Morant will have about 36 hours to rest his ankle for they take on the Thunder in Game 1 of their first round series on Sunday.

As he has been saying all week, Morant will play in the Grizzlies’ play-in matchup with Dallas. Now, it’s finally official. Morant may be limited by the ankle injury, but he underwent an injection on Thursday, so he hopefully won’t be too limited. Regardless, expect him to play a significant role to try and keep their season alive.

Charania also noted that if this was a regular season game, Morant likely wouldn’t be playing. It is a “severe” ankle sprain, though he has never wavered from his stance that he will play against Dallas. The injection should help ease the pain, but it also establishes just how severe the injury is. Still, in an elimination game, Morant will play as much as he needs to in order to get Memphis to the playoffs.

Morant told reporters after Tuesday’s loss to the Warriors that he expects to play Friday. Nevertheless, the 25-year-old point guard missed practice Thursday and is officially listed as questionable with a right ankle sprain. While it’s hard to envision Morant sitting out a game of importance like Friday’s, his ankle is clearly bothering him. If Morant is out, Santi Aldama and Luke Kennard will be in line for extra minutes with Kennard potentially moving into the starting lineup.