The Portland Trail Blazers will face the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night without Robert Williams III, who was ruled out because of left knee injury management. The game is set for Thursday, October 29th, at 7:00pm Pacific at the Moda Center.
That is why Grizzlies Vs Trail Blazers is drawing attention now: two early-season unbeaten teams are meeting, and the matchup has a clear injury wrinkle on Portland’s side. The Grizzlies arrive at 4-0, while the Trail Blazers are 3-0 after opening the 2026-2027 season with wins over the Phoenix Suns, the Kings and the previously unbeaten Los Angeles Lakers.
Micah Nori said Williams was dealing with soreness in his knee and that the team wanted to get ahead of it as the games start to come more frequently. Portland also listed Shaedon Sharpe, Branden Carlson and Chris Youngblood as out, leaving the Blazers to navigate a frontcourt absence against a Memphis team that has been getting most of its early offense from Ty Jerome.
Jerome has averaged 29.8 points and 6.5 assists in four starts for Memphis, shooting 50% from the field and 37% from three. He opened the season with 45 points on 17-25 shooting against the Utah Jazz, then followed that with 15 points on 4-15 shooting in his most recent contest. That kind of production helps explain why the Grizzlies have stayed perfect even while the sample size remains small.
The clean read is that both records still need context. Portland’s 3-0 start has been impressive, but it has come against a stretch that is too short to prove much on its own, and Memphis is being carried by one hot early run from Jerome more than by a long evaluation of team quality. What matters next is whether Williams is available after Thursday night, because the Blazers’ unbeaten start is about to be tested by a tighter schedule and a deeper look at how much their early surge can hold.
The game is available on the Rip City Television Network by antenna or cable, on BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington, and on League Pass everywhere else.
