The Memphis Grizzlies announced Zach Randolph will be out for 6-8 weeks with a torn MCL, Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears reported today. The injury happened Sunday and was thought to be just a contusion, but obviously tests have confirmed that it's far worse than originally feared.
The Grizzlies are already missing their backup forward, Darrell Arthur, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during preseason practice. Losing Arthur hurt back then; losing Randolph, the team's best player and the MVP of Memphis' stunning playoff run last year, could prove crippling. Especially given the compressed schedule.
In a normal NBA season, missing 6-8 weeks would be bad. With this year's schedule, though, there are more games crammed into each week, meaning that prolonged injuries will hit teams harder than ever. And with Arthur gone for the year and now Randolph gone till around the All-Star game, no team is getting hit harder by injuries than the Memphis Grizzlies.