New NBA Rumors on Ja Morant's Grizzlies Future, Potential Trade Market, Landing Spots

Coming off another injury-plagued season, Ja Morant's future with the Memphis Grizzlies seems more tenuous than ever as the franchise is moving forward with a rebuild effort in mind.

Per ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Michael C. Wright, several executives around the NBA are of the belief that Memphis will have "better luck" finding a trade destination for Morant this summer than it did during the season.

The league executives did note that Morant's value at this point is so low that the Grizzlies "shouldn't expect to get much" back in a deal.

MacMahon and Wright cited a team like the Sacramento Kings, who tried to get Morant prior to the February trade deadline, could be back in the mix. They also suggested Morant could be a fallback option for clubs that don't get Giannis Antetokounmpo, assuming the Milwaukee Bucks trade the two-time NBA MVP.

Despite Morant's past success, there wasn't a lot of interest in him as an in-season trade target. The Kings and Miami Heat were reportedly the only teams that had any interest, and it was believed to be "modest" for both of them.

According to MacMahon and Wright, league executives do feel Morant's skill set is "a lot easier" for a team to incorporate with a full offseason to prepare rather than trying to throw him into the mix midway through a season.

One Eastern Conference executive pointed out trying to do a trade for Morant in the offseason might be easier because teams can do a "more thorough" medical evaluation to determine how much of an injury risk he is at this point.

Another potential complicating factor, other than the injury concerns, is Morant's contract. He is guaranteed $87.1 million over the next two seasons. Clubs are more cautious when it comes to adding non-superstar players making big money because of the restrictions that come with the apron rules.

Trae Young, who is only 11 months older than Morant and has two more All-Star selections on his resume, was traded in January by the Atlanta Hawks to the Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum's expiring contract and Corey Kispert.

It could be argued that Morant's upside is higher than Young when healthy, but he has only played a total of 79 games over the past three seasons. His career-high in games played is 67, done in his rookie year of 2018-19.

The Grizzlies have no real incentive to keep Morant at this point. They've clearly signaled what direction they want to take after trading Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic last offseason and Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz in February.

Those two moves have left the Grizzlies with eight first-round picks from 2026 to '32, including their own. They have the sixth-best odds to get the No. 1 pick in this year's draft, plus the possibility for another lottery pick if the Magic lose Friday's play-in tournament game to the Charlotte Hornets.

Morant finished this season averaging 19.5 points and 8.1 assists per game in 20 starts. He had the lowest field-goal percentage (41.0) and three-point percentage (23.5) of his career.