Ja Morant just can’t stop making news for all the wrong reasons. His injury history and gun-related suspensions coming into the year were already well documented. To make it worse, this season hasn’t been much better for him from a PR standpoint as he was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team while feuding with his new head coach, plus he’s already missed eight other games due to injury.
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Ja also took the L for his ill-advised war of words with Klay Thompson recently. The 4 time NBA champion basically called him a disappointment who talks more than he should considering his lack of accomplishments.
Many people around the league have speculated that Ja could be on the trade block, but it’s fair to ask which team will want to sign up for the headaches he’s bound to bring.
According to ESPN, one anonymous Eastern Conference executive basically said he wouldn’t touch Ja with a 10-foot pole. “The combination of pain in the ass, injury prone, not that good anymore and big contract is a bad one,” he said.
That wasn’t exactly an isolated opinion, as others believed that even at 26, his best years were already behind him due to so many injuries and the regression in his game. “Ja has been going down, down, down,” one Western Conference GM said.
Ja has long been criticized for being too reckless with his body, but it seems he’s toggled things too far the other way this year. He’s driving to the rim less than he ever has before, and his 17.9 points per game is his lowest average since his rookie year. He’s also averaging a career-low in minutes and rebounds, while his shooting percentage from 2 and 3 are easily career-lows as well.
Ja was compared to Derrick Rose and John Wall, other uber-athletic but undersized guards whose careers were derailed by constant injuries. Neither of those guys ever reached their full potential, or at least they couldn’t maintain it since Rose did become the youngest player to be named the league’s MVP.
There’s still hope that Ja can flourish if he lands in the right situation, but it’s increasingly looking like Memphis just isn’t the place where that will happen. He’s already off to such a bad start with this new coaching staff, and he’s built up too much baggage over the years as he and his teams have underachieved.
A trade to a team with a strong veteran presence could be exactly what Ja needs to get his head on straight. Those teams tend to be contenders, though, so will they want to take the risk that Ja is ready to turn things around? As the league gears up for possible trades involving Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young and LaMelo Ball, Ja’s potential move is one of the most interesting.
