The curious case of Zach Randolph’s knee injury took a more decisive turn today, with the Commercial Appeal reporting that an MRI has revealed a “slight tear” that will have him out of action for “up to eight weeks.”
Trainers and doctors initially diagnosed the injury — suffered in the first quarter of Sunday’s loss at Chicago — as a deep bruise, and Randolph’s MRI test, not taken until yesterday, was termed as only “precautionary” by the team. As recently as late yesterday afternoon, I’d been told by an internal Grizzlies source that the initial word from the MRI was positive and that Randolph was still considered “day to day.” But the team held off on releasing results for further evaluation of the MRI. Clearly there was some internal uncertainty — or, at least, miscommunication — about the severity of Randolph’s injury.
The current prognosis is very similar to that of Rudy Gay in the days after his February shoulder injury — no surgery planned, a re-evaluation in two weeks, an expected absence of up to 8 weeks. In Gay’s case, the injury didn’t fully heal via treatment alone and surgery was required. The Grizzlies will hope that Randolph’s recovery goes better.
