Isaiah Stewart Shakes Off Ankle Sprain, Cleared for Friday Against the Warriors

Memphis Grizzlies center Isaiah Stewart is officially off the injury report and available to play Friday night against the Golden State Warriors. Underdog NBA confirmed the big man has been cleared after spending the last few days carrying a questionable tag.

Stewart is bouncing back from a left ankle sprain he picked up during the preseason. Preseason basketball is basically a highly televised cardio session that mostly exists to give key rotation players minor lower-body tweaks, and Stewart was simply the latest victim.

"Underdog NBA reported Stewart is 'listed available to play Friday.'"

The injury forced him to sit out Wednesday's regular-season opener, leaving Memphis to patch together their frontcourt minutes. Now that his ankle is structurally sound enough to bang in the paint, the Grizzlies get a massive dose of physicality back in their active lineup.

This is Stewart's first real run with Memphis after spending the first chapter of his career in the trenches with the Detroit Pistons. You do not log over 3,200 career points in Detroit without developing the kind of thick skin that makes a standard ankle sprain feel like a minor inconvenience.

His return immediately shifts the math for anyone looking at the betting board tonight. Stewart eating up minutes down low means fewer rebounding opportunities for the rest of the Memphis frontcourt, which is exactly the kind of rotation crunch that ruins a perfectly logical prop slip.

The Warriors are coming to town, and they are going to test that ankle immediately with constant motion and endless screens. We will see exactly how healthy Stewart is the first time he has to navigate traffic and close out on a shooter at the top of the arc.