Utah Jazz star big man Jaren Jackson Jr. will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering a torn MCL in his right knee during Monday night's 110-105 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, according to Shams Charania and Tim McMahon of ESPN.
This knee injury will not require surgery, but Jackson is expected to miss at least 6-to-8 weeks' worth of games and be sidelined through November and into the later stages of December.
In the first half of Monday's game in Salt Lake City, Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome appeared to fall on a layup attempt and rolled into Jackson's right left from behind, resulting in his leg and knee being awkwardly hyperextended. Jackson immediately went down in pain, grabbing at his knee before being helped back up shortly after by his teammates and Jerome.
It was not long after that Jackson was subbed out and limped back to the Jazz locker room, where he was ruled out for the remainder of the contest.
Jazz head coach Will Hardy was caught on camera talking to Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo during their handshake after the game, and many claimed that Hardy told Iisalo that Jackson had “torn something” in his injured leg.
Jackson was traded to the Jazz in February before last season's trade deadline in an eight-player deal that involved multiple draft picks. He only played in three games with Utah before being ruled out for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery to remove a localized pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) growth in his left knee.
Article Continues BelowIn four games this season, Jackson has averaged 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and 35.7 percent from 3-point range.
This is a developing story that will be updated shortly.