The NBA trade deadline is just over 24 hours away, so turn on your Shams Charania notifications and get some popcorn ready. We\u2019ve already seen quite a few moves go down, including James Harden and Darius Garland switching places, Jaren Jackson Jr. going to the Jazz, and the Bulls and Celtics swapping Nikola Vucevic and Anfernee Simons.<\/p>\n
The rumor mill will continue operating at a fevered pace until the deadline actually passes. Much of that stems from interest in Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and whether he\u2019ll be traded (to the Wolves, Warriors, Knicks, Rockets, Heat or a number of other possibilities) or stay in Milwaukee at least until this summer.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n There are other fish in the sea though, and if the moves we\u2019ve seen recently have taught us anything, it\u2019s that fans should expect the unexpected. Very little is ever certain at the deadline, but given the way the Grizzlies have operated in the past year, it looks like a lock that Ja Morant<\/a> will be following JJJ out the door within the next day.<\/p>\n Memphis is undergoing a massive rebuild from the ground up, one that was started when they traded Desmond Bane to the Magic this past summer. With Jackson now gone and a war chest of draft picks in tow, keeping Ja just doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n The Grizzlies front office made out like bandits in procuring a combined seven first-rounders and a pick swap for Bane and JJJ. That being said, they\u2019ll be hard-pressed to get similar value for Ja thanks to his injury history, a continued pattern of knucklehead behavior and his statistical regression this year.<\/p>\n Still, his athleticism and untapped potential could be enticing for a number of teams that need point guard help.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n According to NBA insider Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints<\/a>, \u201cFor weeks, the Heat have been attempting to buy low on Morant, much like how the Washington Wizards did with their Trae Young trade with the Atlanta Hawks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Young trade did not involve any draft picks, the Grizzlies do want draft compensation for Morant and are widely expected to take the first deal they can involving a first-round pick, sources said. Morant wants Miami, and only Miami, so will a deal get done here?\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n Given the fractured relationship between Ja and the Memphis front office that Spiegel meticulously documented, Heat fans shouldn\u2019t count on getting the former Murray State star just yet.<\/p>\n If Miami is hoping to get Ja, who has two more seasons left on his deal after this one, for cheap and someone comes around with a better offer (possibly the point guard-needy Wolves), then the Grizzlies will gladly ship him to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If nobody comes through with a first-rounder for Ja, Memphis will have to take what it can get, if for no other reason than to fully turn the page on one era and begin another. The Hawks got back CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert for Trae Young, so using that as a comp, what could the Grizzlies hope to get from the Heat for Ja?<\/p>\n Terry Rozier\u2019s expiring contract would be valuable to the rebuilding Grizzlies, and it would help offset the $39 million that Ja is making this year. Miami could also throw in Davion Mitchell since they\u2019d be getting a new point guard.<\/p>\n Mitchell is still just 27, and his presence as an on-ball defender and high-assist guy would help set the tone for Memphis\u2019 upcoming culture shift.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t be long until we find out where Ja ends up. Will it be the Heat, or somewhere else?<\/p>\n The post Ja Morant Only Wants Miami Heat, Trae Young-Like Trade Possible<\/a> appeared first on The SportsRush<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA trade deadline is just over 24 hours away, so turn on your Shams Charania notifications and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[4329,7,46,7046,6339,791,491,497,123,677,144,178,560,293,295,189,3881,102,6,2828,3853,1677,181,494,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-582433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-anfernee-simons","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-celtics","11":"tag-cj-mccollum","12":"tag-corey-kispert","13":"tag-darius-garland","14":"tag-davion-mitchell","15":"tag-desmond-bane","16":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","17":"tag-hawks","18":"tag-heat","19":"tag-ja-morant","20":"tag-james-harden","21":"tag-memphis","22":"tag-miami","23":"tag-miami-heat","24":"tag-miamiheat","25":"tag-milwaukee","26":"tag-nba","27":"tag-nba-trade-deadline","28":"tag-nikola-vucevic","29":"tag-terry-rozier","30":"tag-the-grizzlies","31":"tag-trae-young","32":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116013925862492715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582433","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=582433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}