{"id":784761,"date":"2026-07-12T13:48:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/784761\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T13:48:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:48:51","slug":"ja-morant-hoping-to-start-fresh-with-trail-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/784761\/","title":{"rendered":"Ja Morant Hoping To ‘Start Fresh’ With Trail Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

After watching his career and his reputation take a nosedive over the past three years, Ja Morant<\/a> is ready to \u201cstart fresh\u201d in Portland, writes Ben Golliver of ESPN<\/a>. Speaking to a group of reporters Saturday at the Las Vegas Summer League, Morant insisted that he doesn\u2019t deserve the trouble-making reputation he got in Memphis, sparked by a pair of gun-related suspensions and clashes with the coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cWhat would I like cleared up? I think you know the answer to that. My image. [That] I\u2019m a bad guy,\u201d Morant said in his first public comments since being dealt<\/a> to the Trail Blazers in late June. \u201cI\u2019m Ja. I\u2019ve done what I\u2019ve done in the past, but it\u2019s been addressed and handled already. I don\u2019t see why, years later, that\u2019s still the topic when nothing\u2019s happened since. If I was that guy, y\u2019all wouldn\u2019t be talking to me now. I wouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morant was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023 and the on-court leader of a young Grizzlies team that seemed destined to become a title contender. He was also one of the NBA\u2019s most popular players, captivating fans with his amazing athleticism and spectacular finishes at the rim.<\/p>\n

However, things changed quickly after Morant received an eight-game suspension from the league in March 2023 for brandishing a firearm on an Instagram live stream and then a 25-game ban to open the following season for a similar incident.<\/p>\n

He wound up playing just 79 total games over the last three years \u2013 due primarily to health issues, including a significant shoulder injury \u2013 while the core of the team around him slowly broke apart. By the time he was sent to Portland after months of trying to find a taker for his contract, which will pay him more than $87MM over the next two seasons, he was the last remaining member of Memphis\u2019 young core.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies received Jerami Grant<\/a> and Kris Murray<\/a> in the deal, while Morant gets the chance to redefine himself in a different city.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew home. New team. New organization,\u201d he said. \u201cI get to show the fans in Portland a different Ja. It\u2019s like starting all over again. \u2026 Over the years, I\u2019ve grown a lot and learned a lot. My mindset changed. I go into things differently now. I feel more mature, and I\u2019m ready to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morant said his \u201cbody feels great\u201d after injuries limited him to 20 games last season. He also commented on teaming up with Blazers stars Damian Lillard<\/a>, Jrue Holiday<\/a> and Deni Avdija<\/a>, saying they\u2019ll \u201cmost likely unlock new parts of my game, and I\u2019ll do the same for them,\u201d while adding that he\u2019s willing to accept a reserve role if necessary.<\/p>\n

Addressing the situation in Memphis, Morant said the city will \u201calways be home for me.\u201d He added that he has no resentment toward the organization and said he\u2019s \u201cstill connected\u201d with many of his former teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The reaction from Memphis] was all love,\u201d Morant said. \u201cIt\u2019s some [fans] that might say bad things about me. I don\u2019t look at it like it\u2019s hate or anything. I just look at it as tough love from a family member. I have family members that do the same thing. I love Memphis, I love the fans, I love my teammates. \u2026 It definitely was some good years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After watching his career and his reputation take a nosedive over the past three years, Ja Morant is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,178,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":["post-784761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-portland-trail-blazers","tag-basketball","tag-blazers","tag-ja-morant","tag-nba","tag-portland","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-portlandtrailblazers","tag-trail-blazers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116907328386561870","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784761","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=784761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}