PORTLAND, OR — Scotty Pippen Jr. had no other option.

Surgery was the “last resort” for the Memphis Grizzlies guard after more than three years of excruciating pain in his left toe. He tried everything.

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Pippen, 25, was taking pain medication before every Grizzlies game. He couldn’t walk barefoot. After each game, he would put his foot in a bucket of ice just to numb it and get some relief, or he would use numbing cream to get through the season.

He tried resting over an entire summer. He tried a stem-cell injection.

None of it worked.

The Grizzlies announced on Oct. 18 that Pippen would undergo a procedure refereed to as a sesamoidectomy on his left big toe to address ongoing discomfort. A sesamoidectomy is a surgical procedure used to remove one or both sesamoid bones beneath the big toe joint.

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Now, nearly four months from the procedure and nearly four months from the initial pain, Pippen finally feels different.

“Physically, I feel much better,” Pippen said. “I feel like I’m finally healthy.”

“It’s been a long journey,” he added. “A long rehab. I’m excited to know I’ll start playing soon.”

Pippen has missed the first 49 games of the Grizzlies’ season. Of all the places Pippen could make his return, he’s closing in on doing that in Portland, where he was born toward the end of his father’s NBA playing career.

His father, Scottie Pippen, will be in attendance, Scotty Pippen Jr. is listed as questionable for the first leg of back-to-back games against the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center.

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“I think it’s kind of crazy just how it all lined up, having my pops in town and all that, so hopefully I’m able to play (Feb. 6),” Pippen Jr. said.

A long injury process

Pippen fractured his toe during the predraft process of his rookie year in 2022, he said. At the time, he was “dealing with it” because he was told it was turf toe.

The hope was that the pain would go away, but it didn’t. Pippen started his NBA career after signing a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2022. He eventually signed a two-way contract with the Grizzlies in Jan. 2024.

Pippen’s strong play led to him earning a standard contract and working his way until a prominent rotation piece for Memphis. He was doing all of this while dealing with the toe injury.

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“No, I was never healthy,” Pippen said. “I was playing on a broken toe. I ended up getting the bone out of my whole toe removed, so feeling good now.”

Every game and every day was painful, but this season is when something finally had to be done. Pippen started feeling the pain a little bit in his other foot because he was overcompensating for the injury.

The injury was also impacting his play. He remembers how in his first preseason game, he was trying to push off, slide and pick up full court, but he couldn’t push off.

“I feel way better,” Pippen said. “I’m able to run up and down the court. I can run around without pain. I can push off my toe and and bend my toe. Before, I wasn’t able to get in a lunge position. I really couldn’t put weight on my foot.”

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The irony is that Pippen has been one of the Grizzlies’ most durable players over the past two seasons. In his first full season with the Grizzlies last year, he played in 79 of 82 games, averaging 9.9 points and shooting 39.7% on 3-pointers.

Rehab wasn’t easy, but Pippen focused on the silver-linings. He was able to help teammates by using his voice more, and he had players like Ty Jerome rehabbing at the same time.

“I’ve never sat out that long,” Pippen said. “I’ve never had surgery. I’ve never had an injury that severe. Obviously it was tough on me, but I was able to sit back and learn a lot, too.”

Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Scotty Pippen Jr.’s grueling injury journey to being ‘finally healthy’