Just two weeks into the 2025-26 NBA season, two-time All-Star Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant is already at odds with his own team.
More news: Grizzlies Suspend Ja Morant for Conduct Detrimental to the Team
The oft-embattled declining superstar was caught being visibly disengaged during Friday’s 117-112 home defeat against a shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers club missing LeBron James.
Los Angeles was also without starting center Deandre Ayton for the second half of the win due to a back spasm issue.
On the Amazon Prime Video postgame recap of the Lakers-Grizzlies clash, former six-time All-Star power forward Blake Griffin took umbrage with Morant’s occasional mid-game bouts with apathy.
“I didn’t love what I saw from Ja Morant tonight. I mean, this is a guy who is insanely talent,” Griffin said. “Speed is his No. 1 weapon, and coming off a ball screen, passing the ball like this, kind of lazily cutting to the corner — that’s just not what’s gonna get it done for Memphis.”
In his six games with Memphis, the 26-year-old Murray State product has been averaging 20.8 points on a .406/.156/.971 slash line, 6.7 assists, and 3.3 boards — competent numbers in a vacuum, but a drop-off from his career stats in those categories across the board.
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“For a guy that’s making $40 million and needs to be the leader of the team, I just don’t love it. I don’t know if he was not feeling well, if he’s hurt. But that, to me, is a very bad sign and is something that… has to change,” Griffin added. “The Memphis Grizzlies will only go as far as Ja Morant takes them, and when he’s engaged, I mean we’ve seen it. He’s unbelievable, he’s an all-world talent. But that type of effort right there, that’s the thing that we will call out.”
After the game, Morant was suspended by Memphis due to “conduct detrimental to the team,” which ESPN’s Shams Charania reported was the result of Morant getting into it with head coach Tuomas Iisalo, who like Griffin had an issue with Morant’s clear lack of effort in the loss. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes, Morant missed out on $272,042 of his salary as a result of the suspension.
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