While the NBA is all for individuality and allowing players to embrace their true selves, they’re still expected to adhere to a specific decorum rooted in professionalism and respect for the game. It doesn’t matter if the player is a superstar or the last man off the bench; everyone is held to the same standard.<\/p>\n
That said, Tim Hardaway<\/a> issued a stern warning to Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant<\/a>, saying his future in the league may be in peril if he doesn’t shape up soon.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n A falling star<\/p>\n There was a time when Morant was in the running for the mythical “Face of the NBA” title. With his potent blend of absurd athleticism that allowed him to pull off some of the best dunks of this decade, and charisma that helped shape the vibe for the Grizzlies back when they were contending for the top spot in the West, he was undoubtedly one of the most popular basketball players in the world.<\/p>\n However, all that seems a distant memory now. From suspensions and injuries that have limited him to only 50 games over the last two seasons to clashes with his head coach and even a teammate this season, Morant’s career is going downhill.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n In fact, Hardaway had a bleak prediction for Morant \u2014 he’ll be out of the NBA soon if he’s not careful.<\/p>\n “Two years,” the Hall of Famer stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Morant has made some questionable choices over the course of his seven-year NBA career, many of those could have been avoided had he had a savvy veteran to guide him.<\/p>\n “If he had a guy when he first came to the NBA that was a veteran,” Hardaway continued. “He needs some guidance, a 15-16 year veteran that\u2019d be like, ‘Yo, snatch his a\u2014s up like yo, you\u2019re not doing that this. What you going to do?'”<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n At the moment, Morant\u2019s career looks a lot like Michael Beasley’s, who was the second pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. A gifted bucket-getter, the 6’8″ forward couldn’t find his lane and bounced around seven teams before playing in his last NBA game during the 2018-19 season. The same, according to Hardaway, could happen to Morant.<\/p>\n A man with no trade interest<\/p>\n Prior to the trade deadline, the Memphis franchise had made it clear they were willing to listen to offers for their superstar guard. However, the trade deadline passed last week, and Morant remains on the roster, with reports stating that teams had zero interest in acquiring him.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “That means that nobody wants to f\u2014k with you.Nobody want to f\u2014k with you. I don\u2019t want you on my team. I don\u2019t want your dad near my organization or nothing like that,” Hardaway stressed.<\/p>\n Morant still has two more years left on his Grizzlies contract and is set to get paid over $86 million. He will be an unrestricted free agent come the 2028-29 season. Hardaway said that if he is still in the NBA by then, one thing is for certain: he won’t make as much as he does today.<\/p>\n “He\u2019s not going to make $30 million. It\u2019s going to go down. I hope he\u2019s saving his bread,” the legendary guard concluded.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Ja is only 26, which means he still has an opportunity to turn his career around. Whether that means adjusting his mindset or becoming more disciplined to keep his body from breaking down, it’s clear he must do something to ensure he’s still a relevant player in the league over the next few seasons.<\/p>\n Related: “I’m sorry, bro, this is ridiculous” – Steph Curry defends Jonathan Kuminga after bizarre Warriors food accusation<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on Feb 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the NBA is all for individuality and allowing players to embrace their true selves, they’re still expected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,294,178,293,177,4070,10024,6,759],"class_list":{"0":"post-601284","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-michael-beasley","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-tim-hardaway"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601284","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=601284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}