It took Ty Jerome 40 seconds to put 46 missed games behind him.
The Memphis Grizzlies guard made his season debut in Saturday’s 131-114 loss to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves and needed less than a minute to toss up his first field goal attempt, a soft bank shot high off the board — barely out of the reach of 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert — and into the net.
“It felt great to just get back on the court and have some fun,” Jerome said. “Playing the game again was a great feeling.”
Jerome suffered a severe right calf injury shortly before the season started and spent three months in rehab. A free agent after last season, Jerome was signed to a three-year, $28M contract in July by the Grizzlies after spending the previous two seasons in Cleveland.
“It was a very long wait,” Jerome said.
Although he was on a minutes-restriction list Saturday, Jerome led the Grizzlies with 20 points and six assists in 20 minutes. He’s expected to remain in the starting lineup when the two teams meet again Monday in Memphis.
Jerome was a natural option to start in his Memphis debut because the Grizzlies were without star guard Ja Morant. Morant missed his fifth consecutive game because of a left elbow sprain and is expected to be out for two more weeks.
Jerome understands the tricky nature of injuries. He signed a two-year deal with the Cavaliers in 2023, but missed most of his first season with an ankle injury that later required surgery.
In October, he suffered a high-grade right calf strain during the preseason.
“That injury was kind of out of my control,” Jerome said. “A freak injury, a bad misstep. But a shoutout to (Grizzlies head of sports medicine) Eric Oetter. He was great during my rehab process. He really helped me get right. We are just kind of going to continue on that (same rehab) path. Get the body right. Get the mind right.”
Jerome admitted that the first five minutes Saturday were challenging.
“But then I got my second wind and my legs under me a little bit,” he said.
Jerome hopes to provide a spark for a depleted Memphis team that also played Saturday without starting forward Jaren Jackson Jr. due to a quad injury. The Grizzlies have lost six straight games, nine of 11 and 13 of 16.
“We are playing hard, but there’s some mental mistakes we are making that we can control,” Jerome said.
Minnesota has been trending in the other direction. Saturday’s win over Memphis was the Timberwolves’ fourth straight victory. Anthony Edwards led the way with 33 points, 14 of those coming from the free-throw line. Julius Randle added 27 points, including four 3-pointers.
Randle said the Timberwolves can be particularly dangerous if starter Jaden McDaniels (20 points on 8-of-14 shooting) and reserve Naz Reid (20 points, six 3-pointers) are contributing like they did Saturday.
“When they are aggressive in that way . . . it adds a whole ‘nother dynamic to our team,” Randle said. “It just makes it easy for myself and I’m sure it makes it easy for (Edwards) as well.”
