mobile app bar

“It Wasn’t About Basketball”: NBA Analyst Debunks Reason Behind Viral Ja Morant-Vince Williams Jr. Argument

Joseph Galizia
Published

follow google news
Jaren Jackson Jr and Ja Morant(L), Vince Williams Jr(R)

The Ja Morant and Vince Williams Jr. incident is slowly becoming one of those “WTF” stories. It happened during a Grizzlies practice in Berlin and quickly went viral after audio leaked online. Morant was heard boisterously saying, “I don’t f*** with y’all, I’m with whatever.”

As the exchange got louder and more heated, Williams suggested taking it “to the back.” Ja fired back with, “Why? I’m right here.” At one point, Morant even dismissed him with, “You’ve been here five minutes, you’re not like that,” before teammates and coaches eventually stepped in.

It was intense enough to show just how frustrated things are in Memphis right now. The Grizzlies are banged up, losing games, and have been butting heads with Ja all season. This latest incident will only stir the pot in the wrong direction.

Well, now Brandon “Scoop” Robinson has discovered more about the incident, and surprisingly enough, it has nothing to do with basketball. The famed insider revealed in his latest report that the argument was about a “dinner spot.” Whether that makes any of this more or less cringe remains to be seen.

The problem with this is that for any other player in the league, this wouldn’t ever be blown to such a proportion. But for Morant, who still has heat from his wild antics on and off the court, it’s playing into a larger narrative. You might assume that this would be the final nail in the coffin for Morant’s time in Memphis. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

One source from Ja’s camp told Robinson that he “loves the city and he loves the team. We are going to weather the storm.” Whether that storm getting weathered translates to wins is a question for a later day. It would honestly just be nice to talk about the Grizzlies and it not be some Ja Morant smear piece.

Currently, the Grizz are sitting at a 17-23 record, which is currently good enough for the No. 10 spot in the West. If the season ended today, they would still be alive and competing in the Play-In tournament. It’s not ideal, but it’s a jump from earlier in the year when they seemed entirely hopeless.

This feels less like a breaking point and more like a reality check for everyone involved. Memphis isn’t a feel-good underdog anymore. Expectations are back, and so is the pressure that comes with them. Ja is still the face of the franchise, whether people like it or not, and moments like this are a reminder that leadership doesn’t just show up in highlights or postgame quotes.

If the Grizzlies want this season to mean anything, the focus has to shift from viral side plots to actually stacking wins, because no amount of “weathering the storm” matters if the boat keeps drifting the wrong way.

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph Galizia

x-iconfacebook-iconinstagram-iconlinkedin-icon

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

Share this article