The Grizzlies have suspended point guard Ja Morant for one game for conduct detrimental to the team, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), head coach Tuomas Iisalo challenged Morant’s “leadership and effort” following Friday’s loss to the Lakers. Morant responded to Iisalo in a “tone deemed inappropriate,” sources tell Charania.
Morant will lose 1/145th of his $39,446,090 salary for 2025/26 as a result of the suspension, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). That works out to $272,042.
In a brief session with the media after Friday’s game (video link), Morant repeatedly said to “go ask the coaching staff” when asked about his listless performance — the 26-year-old finished with season lows of eight points and one rebound in 31 minutes. He shot just 3-of-14 from the floor and attempted a season-low two free throws.
Morant’s one-game suspension will be served on Sunday in Toronto.
According to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (subscriber link), Morant was “visibly disengaged” during the second half of Friday’s contest, notably not attempting any shots in the final five minutes of the game after making a game-winning floater on Wednesday in Phoenix.
As Cole writes, while Iisalo has been complimented by players for his direct approach, he has also faced questions about some of his substitution patterns.
When asked what the team could have done to get a different result on Friday, Morant replied, “According to them, probably don’t play me, honestly. That’s basically what the message was after.”
The league is nothing but narratives, the Mavericks proved that with Nico
This season is full of great narratives. We should be talking about Wemby playing like a 2k my player character out there, or Maxey taking a giant step, or VJ shining, or Reeves amazing numbers, or Giannis and Jokic being great. There’s so much great basketball right now. But, with the Kawhi stuff, the cheating, the repeated drama of guys like Ja it’s such an unnecessary distraction.
Those are all great storylines this season. VJ looks like a certified vet out there already.
By cheating you actually mean gambling? Those are different things btw
Yes I meant gambling and I do think shaving points counts as cheating
I guess they cheated in gambling but when you say cheating alone sounds like some PEDs scandal or fixed martches
Point shaving and taking oneself out of games to influence the score or help bettors is cheating. It doesn’t take game fixing in its entirety to be cheating.
Can you write to me the first 6 words of the comment you replied to?
No, because 6 words don’t encapsulate your entire statement. You could have stopped at 6 words but chose not to, so I’m going to address all 20.
No, but the first 6 words already destroy your reply and you didnt address them at all
Destroy? Lmao they do not, considering the other 20 provided a caveat (albeit, an incorrect one). They cheated at gambling AND modified the outcome of games. Playing with a low effort level or removing oneself with a fake injury because they wanted to influence outcomes *is* cheating whether you’re willing to admit that or not. It directly impacts the final score of the game. I have no idea what the outcome was of each game, but it’s really easy to point out how a single digit loss was influenced by the player cheating. Cheating doesn’t have to solely be used to win.
But thats what I am saying, they cheated on gambling. Is missing shots on purpose cheating on a game? I guess it depends, but regardless you dont call Jontay Porter a cheater you call him a gambler. Cheating could be a lot of things and takes your mind away from gambling, it makea you think about peds or something like that.
Taking PEDs is a lesser offense than throwing a game, IMO, and has a much lower impact on a given result. The majority of athletes who take PEDs do so to recover and prevent injury–that’s a lower form of cheating than intentionally throwing a game because the latter affects the integrity, seeding, and future results of the sport. I’m not sure why we would define cheating to lose as just “gambling.” That’s way too soft on the offense.
Brother I dont care what is the biggest or lesser offense, all I am saying is when someone says cheating people domt usually associate that with gambling, but other things like peds
Distractions are only distractions because the narrative makes you believe it’s a distraction. To distract your from what’s real
Cheating? No one has been convicted of cheating.
Ja is a young punk, but an electric and talented one.
He’s mainly electrocuting himself at this point.
His real name is Clarence
His first name is Temetrious, Clarence might be an upgrade. (I know you were referencing 8 mile).
I don’t think Taylor Jenkins was the issue there…
Dont know how he is out of a job, Knicks should have hired him
He had a talented group and did nothing for many years.
Pretty sure his team got the conference finals and made the playoffs multiple seasons, but everyone is entitled to an opinion.
I guess Mike Brown did achieve more by losing in 7 to the Warriors in the first round.
Oh oh ……. F!!! This lols. Trade me to Raptors …
NOW ——- Quickley and Dick plus a pick
Raptors rather have Holiday.
Good for Memphis to do it, but don’t think it will sink into Ja.
CLOWN SHOW
Ja aside the only ones trying are coward, landale and Spencer. Wells is shot on confidence and KCP isn’t a fit. JJJ hasn’t got going yet.
AND FREE GG!
The Kanye West of the NBA. Ja has moved past the forced public apologies. Now he’s promised always to be real.
Only 2 years ago, Ja was heralded as the new face of the NBA. Since then, he’s lost corporate endorsements from Powerade, Hulu, Wendy’s, Body Armor, Beats by Dre, etc. His Nike shoe deal remains, but is rumored to be ending soon.
I hesitate to say Ja makes “bad decisions” because he always claims he’s aware of consequences when he makes them and doesn’t regret any of them in hindsight.
Those decisions are estimated to have cost him ~$150M to date as well as a future income stream of $50M year.
Zion gets so criticised (and rightfully so) but Ja Morant has far underperfomed in my opinion
They’ve both underperformed and both have had their share of off court issues.
Yeah pretty disappointing
Exactly. No veterans and yes men coaches. They need veterans and a experienced coach
If I was the Grizzlies I’d trade him!!
(I live in Memphis, just for perspective). Ja’s schtick is getting old fast, and I agree with you in theory. Still, if you’re an NBA executive, what will you give us for our problem child who sometimes doesn’t feel like trying, has had his share of injuries and goodness knows what off-court shenanigans will come next? I mean, seriously, he has so much potential… Or so we’re told…
His trade value, even considering his talent level, probably can’t get much lower.
I’ll give you my problem and a couple of heavily protected picks for your problem. That’s the trade.
@soxygen, I think you’re right. That’s the only kind of deal that can work for the foreseeable future. It can be framed as “both guys just need a change of scenery”.
How about this one… it sounds crazy, but it fits your formula: Ja Morant for Trae Young.
Listen a real Franchise knows who they draft. Ja is a real talent. They should have known he could be a problem child. That’s what new money can do to any 20 yr old. Especially to one with humble beginnings.
Its easy to pass blame. When you invest max money on a basketball player. You should know who you are investing in.
Trade him to the wolves please.
Yea that will show him Memphis front office! Now you can be sure you’ve lost him for nothing come contract time. Congrats!