Tuesday morning, the Memphis Grizzlies announced that their starting point guard Mike Conley, who is fresh off signing a five-year, $153 million contract, the biggest overall deal in league history, would miss six to eight weeks with a fractured vertebrae in his lower back.
Conley, who sustained the injury in the third quarter of the Grizzlies’ loss Monday’s to the Charlotte Hornets was enjoying a career year averaging 19.2 points on 44.0 percent shooting from the field, 46.7 percent from three and 5.7 assists per game.
Collectively, Memphis was off to a solid 11-7 start despite injuries to fellow free-agent signee Chandler Parsons, who has only played in six games this season and Brandan Wright, who is expected to miss around two months after undergoing ankle surgery.