During Wednesday night’s Grizzlies loss to the Celtics, point guard Mario Chalmers suffered a non-contact injury to his right foot and had to be helped to the locker room. Team officials feared that the injury was an Achilles tear, and on Thursday evening, they had those fears confirmed.
The Grizzlies announced in a press release on Thursday that not only is Chalmers out for the season, but they have waived him in order to create a roster spot.The Memphis Grizzlies today announced that guard Mario Chalmers will miss the remainder of the 2015/16 season after rupturing his right Achilles tendon in Memphis’ 116-96 loss to the Boston Celtics Wednesday at TD Garden and the Grizzlies subsequently waived Chalmers.
“Mario did an incredible job for us since coming to Memphis,” Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace said. “Right from the start, he embraced his change of scenery and endeared himself to his teammates and coaches on the court and the Memphis community off of it.”
The injury occurred following a Chalmers shot attempt at just under the seven-minute mark of the third quarter. Chalmers departed the game with 6:57 remaining in the third with the Grizzlies trailing 64-61.
“He has been an important part of our success this season, both coming off the bench and when called upon as a starter,” Wallace said. “But with Mario’s season-ending injury and our already depleted roster, it became necessary to free up a roster spot.”This is a brutal turn of events for Chalmers, who was set to become a free agent this summer. A torn Achilles is one of the toughest injuries to come back from — Wesley Matthews and Brandon Jennings have had up-and-down seasons after suffering it last year. It’s also a tough break that Chalmers had to lose his roster spot over it, but Wallace is right: they do need the roster spot with the playoffs coming up and injuries up and down the roster.