New Ja Morant Trade Rumors on Grizzlies' Plans for NBA Free Agency After 2026 Deadline Buzz

After failing to find a trade that met their asking price prior to Thursday's deadline, the Memphis Grizzlies will go into the offseason with a plan to move Ja Morant.

Per The Athletic's Joe Vardon, the Grizzlies' "non-action" on deadline day is not considered a reversal of course and they still intend to trade Morant this summer.

According to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, one team executive wrote in a text that "you just can't count on him to be available" when talking about Morant and why there wasn't much of a market for him.

"When I say he has no value, I don't even think that's accurate," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said Friday on Get Up. "I think he's got, what they call in the league, 'negative value.' And what that means is teams were not willing to take Ja Morant unless the Grizzlies also attached draft compensation. In other words, you have to pay us to take him."

Morant has only played 79 out of a possible 213 games since the start of the 2023-24 season.

ESPN's Shams Charania originally reported on Jan. 9 that Memphis was entertaining offers for Morant. The team's asking price of draft picks and young players seemed like an obstacle given how soft the market was for a similar player in Trae Young when he was traded by the Atlanta Hawks to the Washington Wizards.

The Grizzlies were able to significantly boost their long-term draft cache even without moving Morant. They sent Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday in a deal that brought three future first-round draft picks back to the Grizzlies.

After the Desmond Bane trade with the Orlando Magic last offseason, the Grizzlies now have 12 future first-round picks in the next seven years to kickstart their rebuild.

Morant is under contract for two years after this season with salaries of $42.2 million in 2026-27 and $44.9 million in 2027-28. It will be interesting to see how many teams attempt to pursue at that financial cost.

Young, by comparison, is in the final guaranteed season of his contract. He does hold a $49 million player option for next season, so the financial investment when the Wizards acquired him wasn't nearly as significant as what a team will get with Morant.

It doesn't help that when Morant does play, his performance is not at the All-Star level it was earlier in his career. The 26-year-old is averaging 19.5 points on 41.0 percent shooting and 8.1 assists per game in 20 starts this season.