Marcus Smart of the Grizzlies discloses that he is dealing with an unusual hand injury.

The Memphis Grizzlies guard shared with the press on Tuesday, following shootaround, that he is contending with an unusual injury to his left hand. Smart, with tape on the palm of his hand, explained that he acquired splinters when diving for a loose ball in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans on December 26. The former Defensive Player of the Year mentioned that he is still experiencing discomfort in the hand, impacting his grip on the ball.

“When I dove, my hand slid into the court and the court just took everything with it,” said Smart, via The Memphis Commercial Appeal’s Damichael Cole. “Last night, [the sore] kept getting re-opened. Every time the ball hit it, it just busted open with blood.

“When I caught the ball, by the time it got enough feeling back, it was time to make a play, shoot it or drive it,” Smart continued. “Nothing I put on it — Band-Aid, nothing — it won’t stay on it. It just kept re-opening, re-opening. Every time we close it, it’ll re-open again.”

Drew Hill from The Daily Memphian, who was also in attendance after Tuesday’s shootaround, reported that Smart removed the bandage from his hand to display it to the reporters. According to Hill, the wound was the size of a ping-pong ball and characterized it as “nasty.”

During the game against New Orleans, which Memphis won in overtime with a score of 116-115, Smart was shown on the television broadcast receiving attention from a trainer after his dive for the ball.

Not surprisingly, Smart’s performance has been impacted over the last three games as he plays through the injury. During this period, he has recorded shooting percentages of 44/29/73, though Smart’s scoring output remains robust at 17.0 points per game.