{"id":253679,"date":"2025-08-27T16:36:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T16:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/253679\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T16:36:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T16:36:04","slug":"grizzlies-guard-ja-morant-happy-and-says-thats-scary-for-a-lot-of-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/253679\/","title":{"rendered":"Grizzlies guard Ja Morant happy and says that’s scary for a lot of people"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Ja Morant<\/a> is in no mood to prove anyone wrong or forget everything he\u2019s gone through the past two years.<\/p>\n

The Memphis Grizzlies point guard is just glad to be back on a basketball court again.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I\u2019m happy, and that\u2019s my main focus,\u201d Morant said Monday. \u201cI feel like a happy Ja is a scary Ja for a lot of people. So long as I stay happy and healthy, it\u2019ll be a great season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morant\u2019s descent to near irrelevance was much faster than his ascent from a No. 2 overall draft pick to a fresh young face of both the Grizzlies<\/a> and the NBA. Now Morant is healthy after a suspension and a shoulder injury limited him to nine games last season.<\/p>\n

He said at Grizzlies\u2019 media day that he\u2019s learned a lot with everything he\u2019s gone through on and off the court. Simply being the high-flying, fearless point guard again on the court could be the redemption tour needed by Morant, the Grizzlies and, yes, the NBA.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to remember the feeling I felt each time, no matter what situation it was,\u201d Morant said. \u201cI feel like it helped me a lot, helped me grow into a better Ja. Right now, you know I\u2019m probably the happiest I feel like I\u2019ve been in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morant soared on the court to 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year<\/a>. The 2022 Most Improved Player helped Memphis earn the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference in back-to-back seasons.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a two-time All-Star who earned a spot on the 2021-22 All-NBA team. It\u2019s why the Grizzlies gave Morant a five-year, supermax contract<\/a> in 2022 worth potentially as much as $231 million.<\/p>\n

Then issues off the court started overshadowing Morant\u2019s high-flying dunks and seeing-eye assists. He was suspended for eight games in March 2023<\/a> for displaying a gun on social media from a strip club. A second incident in May 2023 cost him the first 25 games<\/a> of last season.<\/p>\n

Morant returned last December, saying only his performance could prove his growth.<\/a><\/p>\n

He played all of nine games, averaging 25.1 points and helping Memphis go 6-3. Then the Grizzlies announced Jan. 8 that Morant would miss the rest of the season needing surgery to repair a tear in his right shoulder<\/a> after getting hurt in practice two days earlier.<\/p>\n

Without Morant and an injury-riddled roster, Memphis finished 27-55 and drafted two-time AP Player of the Year Zach Edey<\/a> out of Purdue at ninth overall.<\/a><\/p>\n

Morant returned to practice during the summer and started working immediately with his newest teammate. Nike, among the sponsors who stuck by Morant<\/a>, dropped his Ja 2 shoe last week along with a commercial on social media Sunday.<\/p>\n

The theme? Getting back up when knocked down.<\/p>\n

Morant\u2019s Grizzlies\u2019 teammates have seen it throughout the summer. Morant started working with Edey, especially on the court, once he was cleared in mid-July from his shoulder rehabilitation. Edey said Morant made him feel welcome to come work out with the team after he reached out to the guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just super thankful for that,\u201d Edey said.<\/p>\n

Coach Taylor Jenkins said it\u2019s been fun and impressive to watch Morant work with his teammates nonstop since being cleared to work again. Jenkins said he senses a renewed focus and joy for Morant after a tough year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball was taken away from him, and that\u2019s his joy. It\u2019s his love,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cHe has so much to give to the game. He knows he has more to give to the game. He know he has more to give to this team, and that\u2019s been his mentality. And I\u2019ve loved seeing it blossom, and I\u2019m going to hold him to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guard Desmond Bane said Morant is in great shape physically and with his game. He\u2019s most excited at seeing Morant being a leader speaking up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always had command of the gym, and you know people listen every time he speaks,\u201d Bane said.<\/p>\n

Watching Morant on the court is what everyone wants to see next.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Ja Morant is in no mood to prove anyone wrong or forget everything he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,294,293,177,4070,6,446,66,575,483],"class_list":{"0":"post-253679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-memphis-grizzlies","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-grizzlies","10":"tag-memphis","11":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","12":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-basketball","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-temetrius-morant","17":"tag-tn-state-wire"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115101708123704597","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253679","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=253679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}