Morant Out at Least Four Weeks With Grade 2 Hamstring Strain

The Portland Trail Blazers have been dealt an early-season blow, confirming on Friday that Ja Morant suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain and will miss at least four weeks. Morant picked up the injury during Thursday night's 124-103 loss to his former team, the Memphis Grizzlies, in Portland, leaving the game in the fourth quarter after 23 minutes in which he scored 14 points with three assists. Imaging confirmed the strain, and the club said he will be re-evaluated in four weeks. The 27-year-old, acquired from Memphis in a June trade, had averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds through his first four games as a Blazer, forming a new backcourt partnership with Damian Lillard. His absence leaves Portland, who started 3-1, without their most explosive creator for a significant stretch of the early season, and tests the depth of a roster built around its new star pairing.