Mike Conley, Who Has Been Tearing It Up, Out Indefinitely With Vertebrae Fracture

After last year’s Achilles-hobbled season, after signing the most lucrative contract in NBA history, and after starting this season on a tear, Mike Conley is hurt yet again. This plainly sucks. During the Grizzlies’ matchup against the Hornets last night, the point guard toppled over after a hard charge, and appeared to take a Frank Kaminsky knee in the back on the way down.

Conley had been making good on that five-year, $153 million deal, stifling any snickers with a line of 19.3 points, 5.6 assists, and 3.6 rebounds a game, scoring at the highest clip of his career. At 29, he’d also curiously refashioned himself as an elite sharpshooter: factor in his career-high 89.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line and you get an unexpected 40-50-90 Club ballot, with the 50 part freakishly coming from three, where he’d been shooting 46.7 percent on 5.3 attempts a game.

Maybe he would’ve settled down to pedestrian, solid performance, but it’ll be a while before we even get to see. Per Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, he’s now out indefinitely with a vertebrae fracture, with sources saying he’ll be out for at least six weeks:

Memphis will attempt to patch over their gaping abyss at the point with rookies Wade Baldwin and Andrew Harrison, which doesn’t bode too well. As for their other stars, Chandler Parsons is out for at least another week due to bone bruise on his knee, and Zach Randolph is out indefinitely after losing his mother. Expect a lot of Marc Gasol cooking, but for the immediate future, don’t expect much else from the 11-7 Grizz.