It’s not every day an NBA superstar becomes available on the trade market. Plenty of signs point toward Ja Morant becoming the next big name to be in search of a new home. However, unlike his contemporaries, who are in the same realm of talent, Morant’s market may not be as high at this stage of his career.
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Unfortunately, the past few seasons haven’t been the most ideal for Morant and the Grizzlies. They haven’t been able to achieve the amount of success that they would have liked. It may be harsh, but Morant has been largely to blame.
The two-time All-Star’s off-court issues have held the team back. It seems the two parties have found themselves in a new set of drama after the Grizzlies suspended him one game for conduct detrimental to the team.
Morant has appeared to check out mentally, which is an indicator of a player wanting a change of scenery. If that’s the case, the Grizzlies would be better off moving on from the dynamic guard.
Usually, for a player of Morant’s calibre, plenty of teams would be lining up with massive trade packages. However, ESPN analyst Tim McMahon isn’t sure that’ll be the case.
“You guys [Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps] talk to people. I talk to people. Do you guys find a lot of people that believe there’s going to be some robust market if they do shop Ja Morant?” McMahon asked on The Hoop Collective Podcast.
Tim Bontemps responded fairly quickly by stating, “No. I don’t think there is one.”
This is arguably the worst-case scenario for Grizzlies fans. The last thing they want to do is receive pennies on the dollar for a player who was once expected to become the face of the NBA.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean teams won’t show interest in Morant. This more so alludes to the Grizzlies not receiving lucrative offers for the 6-foot-2 guard.
Morant’s former Grizzlies teammate Desmond Bane hauled in four first-round picks. It would make sense for Memphis to expect even more from Morant. The difference is that in this situation, they don’t have as much leverage. It will only get worse if Morant continues to make comments to the public suggesting his desire to leave.
The Grizzlies haven’t made it clear that they look to part ways with Morant. Ideally, they would love to keep him. However, the NBA has shown that anything can happen. Only time will tell if Morant will stay a member of the Grizzlies to finish out this season.
