Tony Allen the life blood and co-founder of the Grit and Grind era in Memphis may miss significant time in the playoffs. The Memphis Grizzlies sent out a press release detailing the significance of the injury:
Grizzlies guard Tony Allen has been diagnosed with a strain of the medial gastrocnemius muscle (calf) in his right leg. Allen is out indefinitely and will be continually re-evaluated while beginning rehab immediately.
This is terrible timing for a player who at 35 years old is having a very successful 13th season in the NBA. Averaging a career high in rebounds per game (5.5) while snagging 1.4 steals and 9.8 points the Grizzlies looked poised for another classic playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. Now with this serious injury to one of the leaders of the Grizzlies, it puts a real damper on the series.
Tony Allen may be able to come back sooner than “indefinitely” indicates but in all likelihood, the press release just notified the NBA that Allen’s season may have come to an end. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical also speculated about the timetable for a potential Tony Allen return.
Sources: Memphis’ Tony Allen will rehab his calf strain as intensely as possible, but recovery time for this particular injury is a month.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) April 13, 2017
Unless the Grizzlies do end up going on a run in the playoffs, it looks like Allen has played his last game of the season. Hopefully, it is not his last game in a Grizzlies uniform.
