{"id":294648,"date":"2025-09-21T00:59:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T00:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/294648\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T00:59:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T00:59:20","slug":"memphis-grizzlies-rookie-cedric-coward-100-cleared-for-full-activity-after-shoulder-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/294648\/","title":{"rendered":"Memphis Grizzlies rookie Cedric Coward ‘100% cleared’ for full activity after shoulder injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> rookie Cedric Coward walked to the mound at AutoZone Park, preparing to throw out the first pitch of the Memphis Redbirds game on Sept. 20. He didn\u2019t set high expectations for himself. His main goal was to not let the ball bounce to the plate.<\/p>\n

With the crowd clapping along, Coward stood on top of the mound and uncorked a pitch that landed about chest-high across home plate.<\/p>\n

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Coward approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first pitch was good,\u201d he said. \u201cI aimed for the plate. I just didn\u2019t want it to bounce. I wanted it to get there. I think it got there with a little bit of velocity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coward and fellow rookie Javon Small were at the Redbirds game against the St. Paul Saints for Grizzlies Day. The duo signed autographs and engaged with the crowd.<\/p>\n

Cedric Coward injury update<\/p>\n

As evident by the first pitch, Coward\u2019s shoulder appears to be just fine. He confirmed as much, stating that he has been \u201c100% cleared\u201d for full basketball activity since August.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good,\u201d he said. \u201cThe workouts we\u2019re doing now, I feel great in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Coward suffered a partially torn rotator cuff during the 2024-25 season. The injury required surgery and ended his season after six games.<\/p>\n

When he was drafted 11th overall in June by the Grizzlies, Coward stated that he felt fine. However, the team announced that he wasn\u2019t 100% cleared for full basketball activity just yet. As a result, Coward didn\u2019t play during summer league.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Grizzlies rookie is now \u201csuper excited\u201d for preseason. Memphis will begin preseason action on Oct. 6 against the Detroit Pistons and training camp practices before that. Coward isn\u2019t expected to have any restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the best thing ever,\u201d Coward said. \u201cI haven\u2019t played live competition since November. . . . For me, I do it every day now that I can. I don\u2019t have to hold anything back. I don\u2019t got people telling me to take a break and stuff. It\u2019s like letting the wolves out. That\u2019s what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Cedric Coward injury update: Grizzlies rookie cleared to practice after shoulder surgery<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Memphis Grizzlies rookie Cedric Coward walked to the mound at AutoZone Park, preparing to throw out the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,3522,188,294,3499,293,177,43020,4070,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-294648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-memphis-grizzlies","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cedric-coward","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-grizzlies","12":"tag-javon-small","13":"tag-memphis","14":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","15":"tag-memphis-redbirds","16":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115239581399036798","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}