The image that may live on in this writer’s mind from the Portland Trail Blazers’ first loss of the 2026-27 season is a lonely one.
At the 7:12 mark of the fourth quarter Thursday night, as the Memphis Grizzlies threatened to pull away for good and the Trail Blazers huddled around the bench during a timeout, star guard Ja Morant sat off to the side alone.
A few chairs separated the group from Morant, who sat still with his head bowed and a towel-wrapped ice pack wedged between his left hamstring and the seat
cushion. In that rare moment of solitude amidst the 19,367 fans in attendance at the Moda Center, he appeared to be coming to terms with the hamstring injury that had just caused him to exit the game and would force him to sit out the remainder of his first matchup against his former team.
“He felt a twinge [in his hamstring],” Blazers head coach Micah Nori said after the 124-103 loss to the undefeated Grizzlies. “ … They’re gonna evaluate him now and then probably have more answers for you tomorrow after they look at him.”
After a rocky end to his time with the Grizzlies, Morant’s revitalization with the Blazers has been one of the best early storylines of the NBA season, especially because it helped the team shoot off to an attention-grabbing 3-0 start before Thursday’s stumble. He was at it again in the first half versus Memphis, producing 12 points with a mix of 3-pointers, patient floaters and pretty passes. Just like that first half, so much of Morant’s early tenure in Portland has been defined by energy and beautiful play. Joy and an infectious smile. So it was hard to see those qualities contrasted by the look of a stern Morant nursing his hamstring and not feel for the guy. It was also hard to see the scene without worrying that Morant’s troublesome injury history may be returning to disrupt what has been such a promising start for him and his new team.
“I don’t really know just because this is the first time I’ve been around him when he’s felt something,” Nori said regarding the initial concern level around the injury. “But there’s always a concern, but I’m hoping that it’s nothing major obviously.”
Morant remained on the bench for the rest of the fourth quarter and encouraged his teammates. He also met up with some of his former Memphis coaches and teammates on the postgame floor to show them love. That infectious smile returned for those reunions. Those all read like positive signs for Morant’s prognosis, but it’s hard to know for sure at this moment, and hamstring injuries are notoriously finicky. For now, the Blazers are left to play the waiting game as the medical staff assesses the severity of Morant’s issue, with hopes it won’t keep him out for long or linger.
The greater concern than the short-term sting of Loss No. 1 in an 82-game season is whether Morant’s hamstring becomes a long-term issue.
Injury No. 2
The starting center matchup of Memphis’ 7-foot-4 Zach Edey versus Portland’s 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan makes for primetime television. It’s an old-school, drag-‘em-out battle as the two giants jostle for position in the paint and their tree-like limbs get tangled. They look like two titans colliding.
Their rivalry dates back to a showdown in the 2024 NCAA Title Game, and the matchup is made all the better by the way in which they both seem to really dislike each other (Clingan and Edey both picked up technical fouls at separate moments on Thursday for jawing with each other).
While Clingan got the better of Edey on this night, impacting the game more with 11 points and five blocks, Portland suffered every time the starting big man stepped off the floor. That’s because super sub Robert Williams III was in street clothes on the bench.
Williams always sits out of at least one game of Portland’s back-to-backs as a precaution to manage his health and help the oft-injured big man remain durable. Thursday’s matchup wasn’t a back-to-back, but the Blazers still held Williams out with the indication of left knee injury management.
Nori explained to reporters during the pregame press conference that Williams’ unavailability was partly due to the team’s usual precautionary approach with him. But he also said Williams was experiencing some knee soreness, and the team wanted to jump out ahead of it with the frequency of games picking up shortly.
“We’ve got a lot coming, as far as games go, in a row — not back-to-backs but every other day it seems like [we have game],” Nori said. “It’s not anything major, but it’s just more precautionary, and then hopefully for the road trip, knock on wood, he’ll be good to go.”
Several reasons added up to explain why Portland lost to Memphis. The Blazers shot 65.4% from the free throw line and 24.5% from behind the 3-point line. They turned the ball over a little too much. Damian Lillard went 3-13 from the field. The injury to Ja certainly didn’t help, and the wheels fell off for Portland rapidly after he exited the game.
But the absence of Williams was up there with the biggest reasons for the loss.
In his place, Branden Carlson made his Blazers debut and Micah Potter played his first real minutes outside of mop-up time. As Clingan handed off the baton for different stretches and the Blazers tried to integrate the new reserves, the transition was much less seamless than usual. The offense was clunkier and more prone to droughts. It missed Williams’ screening, lob threat, offensive rebounding and his ability to keep the ball moving quickly. On the defensive end, the Grizzlies’ backup bigs feasted at the rim, particularly when they went at the undersized Potter in the second half. With Williams out, Portland also lost the rebound battle for the first time this season.
Williams may just be the best backup two-way center in the league. That type of impact will be hard to replace on the nights when he can’t suit up.
“Rob is a big part of the team,” Blazers forward Deni Avdija said. “You can trust him, offensively, defensively. He’s all over the place.”
