4:11pm: Andersen is out for at least another three to five days, and Mike Conley is also set to miss that amount of time with a sore left foot, the Grizzlies announced.
1:05pm: The Grizzlies are looking for depth amid a rash of injuries, with recent Clippers 10-day signee Jeff Ayres among their big man targets, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Memphis is without Marc Gasol for the rest of the year and backup center Brandan Wright is liable to miss another seven weeks, which would finish him for the season. Fellow big man Chris Andersen is dealing with a shoulder issue that has him questionable to play tonight while Tony Allen and Jordan Adams are out indefinitely with knee injuries.
Memphis doesn’t have an open roster spot, but if doctors determine four or more players are likely to miss two weeks or more, the team could apply to the NBA for a hardship provision to sign a 16th man. Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal suggests that’s precisely what the Grizzlies have in mind (Twitter link).
Ayres, formerly known as Jeff Pendergraph, scored six points and pulled down three rebounds in 14 minutes total minutes over five appearances with the Clippers on a pair of 10-day contracts earlier this year. The 28-year-old has otherwise been out of the NBA this season following the expiration of a two-year deal with the Spurs. The sixth-year NBA veteran has spent most of his time this year in the D-League, recently having joined the D-League affiliate of the Lakers following a trade that took him from the Jazz affiliate, which picked him first overall in this year’s D-League draft.