{"id":540286,"date":"2026-01-16T08:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/540286\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T08:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:48:16","slug":"trade-rumors-morant-lakers-pelicans-mathurin-kuminga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/540286\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade Rumors: Morant, Lakers, Pelicans, Mathurin, Kuminga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although Ja Morant<\/a>\u2018s time with the Grizzlies has been on a downward trajectory for a few years, tensions reached a boiling point at the end of October, when Morant received a team-issued one-game suspension<\/a>, writes Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Head coach Tuomas Iisalo reportedly challenged Morant\u2019s \u201cleadership and effort\u201d following a loss to the Lakers in which the point guard was noticeably disengaged throughout the second half. Morant responded to Iisalo in a \u201ctone deemed inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Siegel\u2019s sources, the event led to a schism in Memphis\u2019 locker room, with some players agreeing with Morant and some siding with the coaching staff. He never formally requested a trade, but the 26-year-old made it clear he couldn\u2019t see a path forward with the Grizzlies in the wake of the suspension, Siegel adds.<\/p>\n

The Heat hold a level of interest<\/a> in Morant, Siegel confirms. The Kings are also hanging on the periphery of the situation, though they\u2019d only be interested in acquiring Morant if the asking price was low enough \u2014 Sacramento is unwilling to part with draft assets in any talks for the two-time All-Star, sources tell Siegel.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more rumors and notes from around the NBA:<\/p>\n

The Lakers are exploring the possibility of trading their 2032 first-round pick for two or three lesser-value first-rounders, according to Kevin O\u2019Connor of Yahoo Sports (Twitter video link<\/a>), who points out that Phoenix made a similar move last year in a deal with Utah. Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a> and Gabe Vincent<\/a> have both been made available as Los Angeles continues to search for a wing upgrade, O\u2019Connor adds.
\nThe Pelicans are among the teams with interest in Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin<\/a>, league sources tell Siegel (Twitter video link<\/a>). Indiana has checked in<\/a> with New Orleans about second-year center Yves Missi<\/a>, and Siegel wonders if the two clubs could potentially make a deal centered around those two players.
\nHead coach Steve Kerr said Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>\u2018s trade demand<\/a> won\u2019t cause any problems for the Warriors prior to Thursday\u2019s game vs. New York, as Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area<\/a> relays. \u201cIt won\u2019t be a distraction,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cJonathan\u2019s a great young guy. His teammates like him. He\u2019s handling himself well. There won\u2019t be a distraction.\u201d Kerr said he spoke to Kuminga earlier in the day. \u201cThere\u2019s not a whole lot I can say about the other stuff,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cIt is what it is. Difficult situation for everybody. Part of this league, part of this job. We just keep moving forward. But it\u2019s a tough situation and I don\u2019t really have much to add.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although Ja Morant\u2018s time with the Grizzlies has been on a downward trajectory for a few years, tensions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,363,370,294,178,399,867,293,177,4070,6,1259],"class_list":{"0":"post-540286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-memphis-grizzlies","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bennedict-mathurin","10":"tag-gabe-vincent","11":"tag-grizzlies","12":"tag-ja-morant","13":"tag-jarred-vanderbilt","14":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","15":"tag-memphis","16":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","17":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-yves-missi"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115903915868895169","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540286","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=540286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}