Ja Morant Ripped by NBA Exec amid Trade Rumors, 'Pain in the Ass, Injury Prone, Not That Good'
Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant received a withering assessment from one NBA team executive as his future is the subject of speculation.
During the newest episode of the Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN's Tim MacMahon said that "the feedback we got on Ja wasn't any more favorable than the feedback that we got on Trae [Young]." He added some opinions were "even worse."
MacMahon then relayed what one exec told him: "The combination of pain in the ass, injury prone, not that good any more, and big contract is a bad one."
Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Jan. 9 the Grizzlies "are entertaining offers" for Morant prior to the Feb. 5 trade deadline. He added that Memphis would hope to get draft capital in return for the two-time All-Star.
That's an optimistic belief based on the return the Atlanta Hawks got for their multi-time All-Star. Atlanta flipped Young to the Washington Wizards for forward Corey Kispert and guard CJ McCollum.
The trouble for the Grizzlies is that Morant's value might be at a nadir right now.
The 26-year-old is averaging 19.0 points and shooting just 20.8 percent from three-point range. He remains a dynamic playmaker with 7.6 assists, but that isn't enough to make up for his inefficient scoring.
As Young showed, the market for undersized point guards — he and Morant are both 6'2" — who aren't good defenders isn't very robust right now.
The contributing factors with Morant go beyond his game.
He's making $39.5 million this year and has $87.1 million more coming his way over the next two years. Thanks to the luxury tax penalties in the collective bargaining agreement, general managers have never been more cautious about taking on big money.
Morant has yet to log 70-plus appearances in a single season as well. He has battled multiple injuries across his career, and a pair of suspensions also cost him 33 combined games between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns.
Surely the Grizzlies can find a taker for Morant. They may have to settle for a lot less than their initial asking price to facilitate a trade, though.
