{"id":543149,"date":"2026-01-17T17:52:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/543149\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T17:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T17:52:25","slug":"grizzlies-coach-optimistic-ja-morant-will-play-vs-magic-in-london-game-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/543149\/","title":{"rendered":"Grizzlies coach optimistic Ja Morant will play vs Magic in London game"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BERLIN, GERMANY \u2013 JANUARY 14: Ja Morant #12 of the Memphis Grizzlies talks to the media during a press conference at Media Availability at Uber Arena as part of NBA Berlin Game 2026 on January 14, 2026 in Berlin, Germany. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Pamela Costello\/NBAE via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

LONDON (AP) \u2014 There\u2019s a \u201cgood chance\u201d that Memphis guard Ja Morant will return from a calf injury to play against the Orlando Magic in London, Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said Saturday.<\/p>\n

The two-time All-Star missed the first of the two-game NBA Europe series when the Magic beat the Grizzlies 118-111 in the\u00a0NBA\u2019s first regular-season game in Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The teams square off Sunday at the O2 Arena in the English capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a good chance he plays. He went through the full practice today and now we\u2019ve just got to see how his body responds in the morning,\u201d Iisalo said. \u201cThere\u2019s obviously no guarantees and he\u2019s got to feel comfortable with how the calf feels.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Berlin, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was disappointed that Morant couldn\u2019t play because the guard \u201chas a tremendous following globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Morant, who has been the subject of trade speculation, did not speak to the media Saturday after practice.<\/p>\n

Morant is making about $39.4 million this season and is in the third year of a five-year, $197.2 million contract. He\u2019s averaging 19 points and 7.6 assists per game this season \u2014 22.4 points and 7.4 assists for his career.<\/p>\n

He has missed Memphis\u2019 last six games. Morant\u2019s most recent appearance was when he played 31 minutes in\u00a0a 128-121 loss<\/a> to the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 2.<\/p>\n

Trade talk<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies, who have lost seven of their past nine games, aren\u2019t stressed about trade rumors, Iisalo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just focused on doing the work and doing our daily job,\u201d he said. \u201cAnybody who is here and sees the atmosphere that we have and the focus and the effort that guys are putting (in) sees that we have a great group. We are focused on the next game and making today count as much as possible by having great focus and great effort \u2014 that\u2019s the one that we can control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iisalo was also asked about his relationship with Morant: \u201cWe have a very good working relationship and every day here we both look to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grizzlies guard Jaylen Wells said Morant brings positive energy to the locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great leader. You can see him on the bench, he\u2019s cheering us on,\u201d the second-year guard said when asked about Morant trade talk. \u201cDoesn\u2019t really matter what happens on the outside \u2014 it\u2019s always about what happens on the inside. As a team, we don\u2019t really care about it. It comes with the job. It\u2019s not really a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN, GERMANY \u2013 JANUARY 14: Ja Morant #12 of the Memphis Grizzlies talks to the media during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,294,178,293,177,4070,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-543149","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-ja-morant","11":"tag-memphis","12":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","13":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115911718330912655","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543149","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=543149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}