Many NBA teams were active before yesterday’s trade deadline, and many notable players ended up on new teams when it was all said and done. It was a surprising deadline, not only for who got traded, but for where they got traded to, as cellar-dwelling teams such as the Wizards, Jazz and Pacers acquired some of the biggest names.
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The deadline was also surprising because of who didn’t get traded. Maybe Giannis Antetokounmpo can’t be on that list since it’s been impossible to get a real handle on his situation over the past year, but one name most fans were shocked to see stay put was Ja Morant. The Grizzlies point guard seemed like a lock to be moved, for a few reasons.
The Grizzlies traded away Desmond Bane this past summer to the Magic, and have now sent Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Jazz. Memphis is stockpiling draft picks and pivoting towards a Cedric Coward and Zach Edey-led youth movement. So it seemed to naturally follow that Ja would be the next one out the door. That didn’t happen, and this morning on Get Up, Brian Windhorst shed some light on exactly why.
“When I say he has no value,” Windhorst said of Ja, “I don’t even think that’s accurate. I think he’s got what they call in the league ‘negative value,’ and what that means is teams were not willing to take Ja Morant unless the Grizzlies also attached draft compensation, in other words, you have to pay us to take him.”
Windy acknowledged how wild it is that Ja, an extremely talented player, has fallen so far in the eyes of front offices around the league, but he laid out all the reasons why, and it’s difficult to argue with any of them. “Between the suspensions, the injuries and the issues with the coaches, he has missed so many games,” he said.
“Secondly, he is at his best when he gets right there into that restricted area and that paint,” he continued. “He’s never done it less. He’s never taken more jump shots, and he’s never been worse at those jump shots. So his play is bad, his off-court issues are bad and he’s got two years with $87 million left on his contract.”
Although teams like the Heat and Kings were reportedly interested at some level, Ja just hasn’t given teams a reason to believe that his talent can overcome all of his other issues.
The quickness and explosiveness he’s shown throughout his career, the ability to posterize an opposing big man and bring the crowd to its feet, those things just don’t carry enough weight when he’s shown for so long that he can’t be counted on.
Ja has repeatedly said that he loves being in Memphis and doesn’t want to go anywhere, so his issues may have helped him in a perverse way. Now he has the chance to prove that he deserves to be part of the Grizzlies’ future. He’s well past the point of second chances, so he needs to make this one count.
