The only press that the Memphis Grizzlies have gotten so far this NBA season involves Ja Morant, and that’s not a good thing. Memphis’s franchise superstar has been butting heads with the organization since October, even expressing his frustrations about his and the team’s future to the media.
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Things took an even uglier turn yesterday when Ja got into an altercation with his teammate, Vince Williams Jr. during a shootaround in Berlin. NBA insider Brandon “Scoop” Robinson has since revealed that the incident had nothing to do with basketball and instead was about a dinner spot. It perfectly sums up the Grizzlies. All the noise off the court outweighs anything good on the court.
For lack of a better term, the Grizzlies and Morant are dealing with “Topsy Turvy.” That’s the term Dwayne Wade used to describe the situation during today’s NBA pregame broadcast on Amazon Prime. The Miami Heat legend explained that both sides are in a state of confusion that neither seem to have the antidote for.
“The definition of it (Topsy Turvy) is being in the state of confusion or disorder. That is what the Memphis Grizzlies and Ja Morant is in right now. They’re in a state of confusion. Frustration shows up, when clarity doesn’t. There’s no clarity right now around the organization,” claimed The Flash.
It’s hard to disagree. The noise that Ja received for his gun-flashing social media videos was equally overblown and appropriate. Last year, he was getting headlines for pantomiming a gun and a grenade as a celebration. Memphis should have had his back, and Ja should have been more mature. Instead, no one learned any lessons.
Dwyane Wade on Ja Morant and the Grizzlies:
“The Memphis Grizzlies and Ja Morant are in a state of confusion. Frustration shows up when clarity doesn’t. There’s no clarity right now around the organization. I think all of us sitting here right now believe in Ja. We believe in… pic.twitter.com/S6RHzPLXfC
— Heat Central (@HeatCulture13) January 15, 2026
Now this latest incident with Vince Williams Jr. shows that not only is neither side learning any lessons, but it’s actively affecting their team chemistry. Memphis is 17-25 and currently holds the No. 10 spot in the competitive West. They’ll need to step up their game in the second half of the season if they want to even consider sniffing a playoff spot.
Fortunately, all of this noise has not stopped people from believing in Morant, and that includes Wade. “I think all of us sitting here believe in Ja,” stated Dwayne. “We believe in his talent. But there’s no clarity right now, and that brings the frustration, which we got a chance to see, which we shouldn’t have, saw yesterday with him and Vince.”
There is some good news. Brandon Robinson’s latest report also revealed that Ja remains interested in playing for Memphis, a team he helped shape the culture of over the past half decade. But the bad news is that there’s no indication the Grizzlies feel the same way after all the drama. If Morant does get traded in the next few weeks, it would surprise no one.
The scary part for Memphis isn’t the possibility of a Morant trade, it’s the idea that they might keep spinning their wheels without ever fixing the root issue. Talent isn’t the problem here, and it never really has been.
What’s missing is alignment, from the front office all the way down to the locker room, and that stuff doesn’t magically appear at the trade deadline. Whether Ja stays or goes, the Grizzlies are quickly reaching a point where indecision is doing more damage than any single headline ever could.
