Ja Morant Says He's Lost His Joy, And It Sure Feels Like His Days In Memphis May Be Numbered

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All things considered, it's been a tough few days for the Memphis Grizzlies. They've currently lost 3 in a row and 4 of the last 5 (with the Rockets on deck). Ja Morant took direct shots at his coaching staff for basically challenging him at halftime of the Lakers game, which he then decided to openly quit. Then the team suspended him for a game because at that point their hands were tied, and now coming off a loss to the Pistons in which Ja finished 5-16 (0-4), things are starting to sound like they're getting even worse

I mean, that's the Jimmy Butler Playbook if I've ever seen it.

We're inching closer and closer to the point where we may be dealing with more of a "when" situation as opposed to an "if" situation when it comes to Ja's future in Memphis. Once you get to this stage, NBA history tells us this usually ends up the same way, and very rarely does that way end up being both the player and team working things out, and everything suddenly goes in a positive direction.

Once these types of seeds are planted, that shit spreads like wildfire. When you also add in the element of losing to this type of drama it's hard to change course, especially when this is all coming from the team's best player and leader. 

What complicates matters is Ja's contract. In this new CBA world, when you factor in Ja's style of play, injury history and then price

who exactly is lining up to take this on? It'd have to be a team that needs a point guard so that narrows the market down a little, but even the teams that do, I'm not sure Ja makes sense. Like, could the Rockets use Fred VanVleet's $25M, add in some pieces and try and bring Ja in? Maybe, but why do the Grizzlies do that? Do the Timberwolves make a call and maybe try and get out of Rudy Gobert's money ($35M) and the Grizzlies can just play JJJ at the 4? 

The point is, there's a reason you're already hearing about how Ja doesn't even have that great of a trade market, because life is different in this new CBA world. At this point, you have to be sure the juice is worth the squeeze to be forking over 25% of your cap to someone, and I'm not sure the on court production from Ja is worth it at that salary as well as the picks it may require to trade for him in the first place.

So what's the solution? They can't fire the coach, they just played that card at the end of last season. If you're trading Ja, that means you're basically starting a rebuild, and that means you can't really afford to take 40 cents on the dollar for your best player. If you're rebuilding, you need that player to bring back a haul. Well, where's the haul for Ja coming from? As you can see, it's quite the pickle.

Maybe you just say fuck it, stay the course and hope that if you can start winning some of these games, that'll be enough to carry you into the summer where you'll have more options. Maybe you wait it out and see if someone will get stupid at the trade deadline. At the very worst if you have a season from hell and end up in the Lottery, well that's not the worst thing in the world either given how stacked this draft is supposed to be. 

That's why I think we see the Grizzlies just say screw it and ride this out. If they turn it around, great. If not, you take the lottery asset and figure things out in June. 

But what we know for certain is Ja sure sounds and is playing like a guy whose days as a Grizzlie might be numbered.