{"id":581042,"date":"2026-02-04T03:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/581042\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T03:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:56:16","slug":"with-grizzlies-pivoting-toward-a-full-rebuild-ja-morant-expected-to-be-moved-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/581042\/","title":{"rendered":"With Grizzlies pivoting toward a full rebuild, Ja Morant expected to be moved next"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday afternoon, the Memphis Grizzlies traded forward Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz<\/a> in a blockbuster move involving eight total players and three future first-round picks. Following Jackson\u2019s departure \u2014 a transaction that now gives general manager Zach Kleiman 13 future first-round picks over the next seven years (in addition to a $29 million trade exception) \u2014 rival executives anticipate a reduction in Ja Morant\u2019s asking price, potentially accelerating a departure by Thursday\u2019s trade deadline, sources told Yahoo Sports.<\/p>\n

Despite publicly and privately professing his profound love for the organization, Morant must now come to terms with the fact the Grizzlies are pivoting toward a full rebuild, with his future away from the franchise that drafted him.<\/p>\n

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Despite Memphis\u2019 claims that Jackson was an overwhelmingly positive locker room presence and a part of the Grizzlies\u2019 core \u2014 which surfaced once news of Morant\u2019s availability emerged \u2014 the overwhelming belief was Jackson was operating on borrowed time. Following Morant being put on the block, a slew of interested teams aggressively approached Memphis, gauging the temperature on a potential trade, but Utah\u2019s package \u2014 with a trio of coveted future firsts \u2014 was enough to push Kleiman to pull the trigger, sources said.<\/p>\n

Because of Jackson\u2019s production and positive influence, his market was naturally more robust than that of Morant, who has dealt with a litany of injuries and off-court issues and a decline in production. Sources said Morant has a diminished market \u2014 with interested teams wary of meeting Memphis\u2019 previous demands. The Grizzlies are becoming increasingly aware they won\u2019t recoup a similar haul compared to what Jackson or Desmond Bane procured in a Morant deal, sources said.<\/p>\n

A curtailing of Morant\u2019s price should appeal to Miami and Minnesota, two of the interested teams that have been monitoring the situation \u2014 while keeping the bulk of their assets focused on Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. (There is a growing thought the Heat would grant Morant the extension he\u2019s been seeking, sources said.)<\/p>\n

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The Grizzlies are now also interested in being a facilitator in any Antetokounmpo deal elsewhere and are monitoring that situation closely, sources said. Prior to Tuesday\u2019s trade activity, Memphis was exploring the possibility of being part of a multi-team deal involving Minnesota and Milwaukee for Antetokounmpo that would have sent beloved Grizzlies guard Mike Conley back to Memphis, sources said.\u00a0Minnesota instead moved Conley in a deal with the Bulls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday afternoon, the Memphis Grizzlies traded forward Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz in a blockbuster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,920,497,123,294,178,496,293,177,4070,371,6,181,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-581042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-memphis-grizzlies","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-desmond-bane","11":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","12":"tag-grizzlies","13":"tag-ja-morant","14":"tag-jaren-jackson-jr","15":"tag-memphis","16":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","17":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","18":"tag-mike-conley","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-the-grizzlies","21":"tag-utah-jazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116010351586701282","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581042","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=581042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}