Grizzlies Rule Out Quinten Post, List Isaiah Stewart Questionable vs. Nuggets

The Memphis Grizzlies will be without Quinten Post on Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets. Post is in concussion protocol after leaving Monday’s win in Toronto in the first quarter, and Isaiah Stewart is questionable with a right knee bone bruise, according to the status report Memphis released Tuesday.

Scotty Pippen Jr. remains out with a lumbar disc herniation. So does Richie Saunders, who is listed with right knee surgery rehabilitation, and Karim López is out on an NBA G League assignment.

Tip-off at FedExForum is 7 p.m. CT on DAZN. Memphis is 7-3, and Denver comes in at 5-4 after losing 110-100 at Houston on Monday.

Post came off the bench at 5:59 of the opening quarter in Monday’s 118-102 win over the Raptors. Less than two minutes later, he was elbowed in the face while defending a drive by Jamison Battle. Taylor Hendricks replaced him at the 4:03 mark, and Post did not return.

Post was three games into his return from a sprained right ankle. He hurt the ankle Oct. 29 in Portland, missed home games against Sacramento and New Orleans, and came back Nov. 4 against Indiana.

Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said Memphis had very little practice time with the lineups it used after Post went out.

“The whole team, we were put in a tough situation there after Quinten Post was also deemed not to be able to continue playing,” Iisalo said, “and we had some lineups that have never played together. We kind of mixed and matched the things we did, and I thought our guys found a good balance between still playing with our identity, but also playing to the strengths of those particular units with very little practice time together. So that was also encouraging.”

From that point on, Zach Edey was the lone center Memphis played. He played 22:45, including 9:07 of the fourth quarter, and finished with 8 points and 9 rebounds.

Hendricks, who had averaged 4.3 minutes in four appearances before Monday, played 15:41 and scored 9 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Ty Jerome said Memphis got contributions from everybody in Toronto, and he started with Hendricks.

“Shout out my guy T-Henny, man,” Jerome said. “He was great tonight for us, great minutes. But everyone does a great job of staying ready, keeping a positive attitude, and that’s going to be big for us over the course of 82.”

Stewart sat out Friday’s 128-97 loss to Oklahoma City and was ruled out again for Toronto. He has not played since the first half of the Nov. 4 loss to Indiana, when he scored 6 points on 3-of-4 shooting in 9:43 before hurting his right knee.

Iisalo said the next day that Stewart appeared to have avoided anything major and was walking normally, with further evaluation still coming. Memphis has since listed the injury as a right knee bone bruise.

Pippen and López were inactive in Toronto as well, Pippen with the same lumbar disc herniation and López on assignment with the Memphis Hustle. Saunders, who is on a two-way contract, was also inactive Monday.

The Grizzlies beat Denver 125-118 at FedExForum on March 18 in the teams’ last meeting. After Wednesday, Memphis plays at New Orleans on Friday in its second NBA Cup group game.