DHJ Quick Take<\/p>\n
Imminent Departure: ESPN\u2019s Tim MacMahon and Michael C. Wright report that the Memphis Grizzlies are widely expected to trade Ja Morant this offseason, potentially ending the tenure of the 2019 second-overall pick.<\/p>\n
Irreparable Relationship: Morant has reportedly told former coaches and players around the league that he is \u201cdone\u201d playing for Memphis, signaling a desire for a fresh start elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Lingering Resentment: The rift stems from a season-long suspension for \u201cconduct detrimental to the team\u201d; Morant reportedly felt alienated by the organization during that period and has not moved past the disciplinary action.<\/p>\n
The Memphis Grizzlies are widely expected to trade Ja Morant<\/a> this offseason, according to Tim MacMahon and Michael C. Wright of ESPN<\/a>. <\/p>\n Morant has told players around the league and some of his former coaches that he\u2019s done playing for the Grizzlies, who selected him with the second overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft out of Murray State.\u00a0<\/p>\n A two-time All-Star, Morant still hasn\u2019t gotten over the Grizzlies suspending him earlier this season for\u00a0conduct detrimental to the team.<\/p>\n \u201cMorant still hasn\u2019t gotten over the suspension,\u00a0multiple league sources said, because he felt alienated by teammates, who were told to leave the star guard alone so he could work through the issues that had led to the suspension. In the aftermath, Morant told players around the league and some of his former coaches that he isn\u2019t playing for Memphis anymore, sources said,\u201d MacMahon and Wright wrote. <\/p>\n Morant will make $42.1 million next season and $44 million in the 2027-28 season, the last year of his contract. The 26-year-old point guard doesn\u2019t have a no-trade clause in his contract, so he can\u2019t control where the Grizzlies trade him this offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 20 games for Memphis this season, Morant\u00a0averaged 19.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 8.1 assists per contest while shooting 41.0% from the field, 23.5% from beyond the arc and 89.7% from the free-throw line. The 2019-20 Rookie of the Year has led the Grizzlies to the second round of the playoffs just once. That was back in 2022.<\/p>\n Morant holds career averages of 22.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game. He\u2019s been linked to the Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves in trade rumors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I\u2019m naive, but that type of talent doesn\u2019t grow on trees,\u201d a Western Conference executive told ESPN. \u201cEspecially if he\u2019s going to a different place and he\u2019s motivated: \u2018OK, I\u2019ll show you guys.\u2019 I could see some teams talking themselves into it, at least kicking the tires.\u201d<\/p>\n The Grizzlies conducted their 2025-26 exit interviews on Monday, April 13, and Morant didn\u2019t speak. We have probably seen the last of Morant as a member of the Memphis organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n If the Grizzlies trade Morant this offseason, his best game with the organization was on February 28, 2022, against the San Antonio Spurs. Morant had a career-high 52 points that night. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DHJ Quick Take Imminent Departure: ESPN\u2019s Tim MacMahon and Michael C. Wright report that the Memphis Grizzlies are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,294,293,177,4070,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-713885","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-memphis","11":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","12":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116431234258993164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713885","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=713885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}