Ja Morant’s rise from an overlooked collegiate player to a full-blown NBA superstar is wild. The two-time All-Star is one of the league’s most popular players thanks to his regular highlight reel plays and unmatched charisma.
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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. But his off-court transgressions have definitely slowed that rise.
Morant 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 Grizzlies’ point guard has nothing to do with basketball, but his character.
This year hasn’t been much better, either. Morant is seemingly beefing with Memphis’ head coach Tuomas Iisalo publicly. Some insiders expect Ja to be traded away, which would be a wooden stake to the heart of all Grizz fans.
Comedian Aries Spears and Vlad touched upon Morant on VladTV while talking about the downfall of Sebastian Telfair. Like Morant, Telfair got into a ton of trouble off the court that eventually derailed his NBA career. Spears worries that Ja could be headed down that path.
Perhaps the comparison came because both their transgressions involved a gun. Telfair was caught boarding his Portland Trail Blazers team plane with a gun in 2006.
“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 it was all a thing of the past, Spears showed that he was plugged into the 26-year-old’s latest 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,” added Spears.
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 between Morant and the Grizzlies. The franchise hasn’t exactly gotten off to a great start this season, reeling at 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. It remains to be seen whether the very thing that made him a star could end up defining his downfall.
