The rise of Ja Morant from overlooked collegiate player to full-blown NBA superstar is wild. The two-time All-Star remains one of the league’s most popular players thanks to highlight reel plays and his unmatched charisma. There’s a reason that Ja has one of the best selling sneakers on the market. People love him, and want to be like him.
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But the off-court occurrences have definitely slowed that rise down. He kept landing in situations that easily could’ve been avoided, like posing with a firearm on social media and mocking the NBA by pantomiming guns during games. It seems for the last two seasons all the talk about the Grizzles point guard has nothing to do with basketball, but his character.
And this year hasn’t been too much better. Morant is seemingly beefing with Memphis’s head coach Tuomas Iisalo on a public stage. Some insiders expect for Ja to be traded away, which would a wooden steak to the heart of all Grizz fans.
Comedian Aries Spears spoke about Morant during a recent interview with VladTV. Vlad and Spears were talking about the downfall of Sebastian Telfair, who like Morant, got into a ton of trouble off the court that eventually derailed his NBA career. Spears worries that Ja could be headed toward that path.
“You know who else is headed in that direction if he’s not careful, is Ja Morant. He bought to f*** his career up too,” began Spears. When Vlad tried to imply that was all a thing of the past, Spears showed that he was plugged into the 26-year-old’s latest ongoing drama.
“He got in trouble for something else. Nothing serious, but the team basically wants to get rid of him because he was kind of talking sh** about the coaching staff.”
For context regarding the Telfair comparison, he was caught boarding his NBA team plane with a gun.
That’s not to say that Spears is not a fan. “Oh he’s dope,” added Spears, who clearly loves to talk about ball.
All in all, there’s a real tension building for Ja Morant and the Grizzlies. The franchise hasn’t exactly gotten off to a great start this season either. They’re just 5-11, sitting 11th in the Western Conference. It’s hard not to see the off-court drama, the rumored fallout with Iisalo, and Morant’s own public gripes as part of what’s dragging the team down.
Meanwhile, Ja’s still producing on the court. He’s averaging about 17.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game so far, but even with those numbers, the spotlight seems as much about his behavior as it is his talent. If things don’t turn around, fans may be left wondering whether this era of Morant-led Memphis is on thin ice, or whether the very thing that made him a star could end up defining his downfall.
