Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is frustrated, averaging a career-low 30 minutes per game and shooting just 38.3% from the field, including 14% from 3. The Grizzlies organization is frustrated, too, suspending Morant for a game over the weekend because of conduct detrimental to the team. What could happen now?
Morant’s suspension stemmed from a postgame exchange with coach Tuomas Iisalo after Friday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Iisalo challenged Morant’s leadership, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania, and Morant responded in a tone the franchise deemed inappropriate. Morant missed Memphis’ loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, then had 18 points and 10 assists on Monday against the Detroit Pistons. The Grizzlies fell again, though, dropping to 3-5 on the season. (Memphis lost its fourth straight game Wednesday against the Houston Rockets to fall to 3-6.)
After Monday’s loss to Detroit, in response to a question asking if Morant has his usual joy playing basketball, he said: “No.”
Morant, a two-time All-Star, played just 59 games over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons because of two suspensions for incidents with guns, along with various injuries. He is in the third year of the five-year, $197.2 million contract he signed in July 2022.
Why is Morant so upset? Where do things stand with the Grizzlies? And what could a potential trade for Morant look like if Memphis makes him available? ESPN’s reporters and analysts weigh in:
Jump to a question:
Why was Morant suspended?
What is Morant’s relationship with Grizzlies?
What is the team saying about the situation?
What’s different about Morant’s play in 25-26?
Will the Grizzlies open trade talks?
What are the next steps in this saga?
What led to Morant’s one-game suspension?
Iisalo addressed Morant’s lack of effort and leadership in front of the team in the locker room after Friday’s loss, and Morant responded in a tone Grizzlies’ brass deemed dismissive and inappropriate.
Morant followed that up with a 55-second media availability when, after being asked about his struggles in the game, he repeatedly muttered, “Go ask the coaching staff.” Morant also referenced that Iisalo had just delivered a “little spiel” in the locker room that was critical of him.
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Criticism of Morant was merited after he moped through the motions in the second half of the game, exhibiting an alarming lack of effort and passion. One of Iisalo’s core coaching philosophies is to address such issues in front of the entire team, as he discussed during a January appearance on “X&O’s Chat,” a Europe-based basketball podcast.
“How can he change if I don’t ever bring it up?” Iisalo said on the podcast before pretending he was confronting a player. “Listen, you’re holding us back. You can choose to behave in this way, and this means that you’re just not very competitive. Because behaving in another way would allow us to win.
“So I’m turning it — yes, you’re doing this. Everybody knows you’re doing that. You’re hurting all of us. You’re not responsible to me. I’m just telling you that this is how the other guys feel about you. So you can go ahead being an a–hole, OK, but everybody here knows it.
“If you’re fine and you can live with it, then I can live with it as long as you bring the result. But if you don’t bring the result, then your ass is cut.”
Of course, it’s not always that simple in the NBA, especially with a face of the franchise on a nearly $40 million maximum salary. But Iisalo believes in the benefits of blunt, direct communication and is willing to deal with the blowback it might cause.
“We just tackled everything head on,” Iisalo said, referring to his approach as a coach in Finland, Germany and France. “We started to say, let’s just be brutally honest. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Somebody’s going to be upset for a few minutes, and we’re going to win more basketball games. But it’s such a human thing to avoid that, because of fear, because of ‘What if they turn against you?'” — Tim MacMahon
What are you hearing about Morant’s relationship with the Grizzlies?
The brass in Memphis prefers to handle the situation internally without any outside noise, but it’s clear Morant harbors residual emotions regarding the situation that led to his one-game suspension.
This comes after a summer in which the Grizzlies eagerly gave Jaren Jackson Jr. a maximum contract extension while deciding not to engage in discussions with Morant about extending his deal.
Morant engaged in a somewhat tense exchange Monday with reporters after the Grizzlies lost their third consecutive game, during which he contributed 18 points on 5-of-16 shooting with 5 rebounds and 10 assists. Asked if he and the coaching staff had discussed Friday’s incident and resolved the issues, Morant shot back, “Y’all asked that question to them, huh? Y’all asked that question, so y’all know the answer to that.”
Asked again whether the situation was resolved, Morant said, “Yeah, they told y’all that, right? There you go. Obviously, they can’t go and tell y’all something I ain’t say.”
1:34
Shams: Tension exists between Ja Morant, Grizzlies HC
Shams Charania details what led to Ja Morant’s one-game suspension and his future with the Grizzlies.
Morant was later asked whether he still feels the same joy playing basketball.
“No,” he said.
Morant then said, “We’ll see,” in response to a question about what can be done to restore the joy he has played with in the past. While the guard maintained his relationship with the organization remains solid, his body language and demeanor belied the words.
Morant was asked whether he and the franchise maintain a good relationship.
“Yeah,” he said. “They told y’all that, right? If I didn’t have a relationship, I wouldn’t talk to them at all.”
So, it’s clear that relations between Morant and the Grizzlies remain icy. It’s worth noting that over the years, turnover has left Morant without a sounding board or anyone he can relate to on the coaching staff or within the front office. — Michael C. Wright
What are the Grizzlies saying about the situation?
Very little. General manager Zach Kleiman hasn’t publicly uttered a word since Morant’s suspension, allowing the franchise’s one-sentence, matter-of-fact statement that the guard was suspended due to conduct detrimental to the team to stand on its own. Kleiman has consistently chosen his words carefully, or has avoided public comment altogether, when controversy has swirled around Morant over the years.
Iisalo offered clipped responses to a series of questions from reporters before Morant’s return Monday night, intentionally providing as little information as possible.
“We had a discussion, and we’re all looking to move forward and beat the Pistons,” Iisalo said before the Grizzlies’ 114-106 home loss to Detroit.
Pressed on Friday’s postgame confrontation between the coach and star, Iisalo said, “That’s an internal matter. Won’t be discussing any details here.” — MacMahon
Has Morant been used differently this season?
Morant adapted his offensive approach for a time last season, as assistant coach Noah LaRoche’s more egalitarian system took hold in Memphis, but the firing of LaRoche and head coach Taylor Jenkins has allowed Morant to play on the ball a lot more. This season, he’s averaging career highs in touches and dribbles per 100 possessions — he ranks second in the NBA, behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, in the latter category — and his touch time has increased by about 30% compared to last season, when it sat at a career low.
That broader change correlates with a shift in play type. In the first five seasons of his career, Morant used a steady number of pick-and-rolls, between 46 and 50 per 100 possessions each season. Under the Grizzlies’ short-lived offensive experiment last season, that number plummeted to 31 picks per 100 possessions, but it has shot up to a career-high 54 this season. Only Cade Cunningham and Trae Young are using picks more frequently than Morant in 2025-26.
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That reversion hasn’t helped Morant return to his previous All-NBA level, though. In fact, 2025-26 represents the fourth straight season that Morant’s player efficiency rating has declined, from a high of 24.4 in 2021-22 — when Morant won the Most Improved Player award and made second team All-NBA — to a career-low 15.1 this season. (The league average is 15.0.)
Morant’s scoring efficiency is a particular problem in the early going: Among 15 players with at least a 30% usage rate, Morant ranks 14th in true shooting percentage, ahead of only Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe. Only a 31% career 3-point shooter, Morant is at 14% (6-for-43) from distance this season.
His decline coincides with broader struggles for the Grizzlies. Rookie wing Cedric Coward is a bright spot, averaging 14.3 points per game on 54% shooting (41% from distance), but amid a general lack of shooting and injuries to guards Scotty Pippen Jr. and Ty Jerome and centers Zach Edey and Brandon Clarke, Memphis has faltered on both ends of the floor.
The Grizzlies rank 26th in offensive rating and 25th on defense, according to Cleaning the Glass, which strips out garbage time. The 1-7 Washington Wizards and 2-6 New Orleans Pelicans are the only other teams that rank so poorly in both stats. — Zach Kram
How tradeable is Morant’s contract? What could a potential return look like, and what teams could be involved in talks?
Back in March 2023, Morant was suspended eight games for conduct detrimental to the league. Those eight games ended up playing a role in Morant missing out on All-NBA honors. He finished with the most votes of guards not selected which cost him $40 million in additional salary. If Morant had been selected, the five-year, $197 million rookie extension he signed in the 2022 offseason would have increased to $237 million.
In the current landscape of aprons, this detail matters. Instead of having an onerous $47.3 million cap hit this season and $50.6 and $53.9 million the next two years, Morant is owed $39.5, $42.2 and $44.9 million.
While Morant is in the prime of his career, has three years left on his contract (he is eligible to sign a three-year, $178 million extension next summer) and has a salary that ranks just 28th among all players, the market could be less advantageous if Memphis were to consider moving him.
First, point guard is a position of strength with fewer teams in need. The teams that do have a vacancy, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns for example, do not have a first-round pick to trade in the next seven years. The Brooklyn Nets, meanwhile, have the draft capital, financial flexibility and contracts but adding Morant would hardly fit their rebuilding timeline.
The Rockets could make the most sense, especially considering Fred VanVleet’s season-ending knee injury. But because of their first apron issues (they are currently $1.2 million below the threshold), Houston would need to trade VanVleet and a combination of Dorian Finney-Smith, Steven Adams and Clint Capela to make a deal for Morant work. Taking on Morant’s max salary is prohibitive, especially with Tari Eason hitting restricted free agency and Amen Thompson’s expected rookie extension next summer.
Despite VanVleet’s absence, Houston still ranks first in the league in offensive efficiency. The Rockets do, however, find themselves in the bottom 10 in assist to turnover ratio. As for what a possible return for Morant could look like, one team executive ESPN talked to pointed to the 2023 trade that sent Kyrie Irving from the Nets to the Dallas Mavericks. In that deal, the Nets received Spencer Dinwiddie, Finney-Smith, a 2029 unprotected first-round pick and two second-rounders.
The main difference: Irving was 31 when he was traded and on an expiring contract. Morant is 26 and has two years left after this season.
It is important to remember that unlike the Jimmy Butler III situation that unfolded last season, Morant has not asked to be traded, despite the one game suspension and the Grizzlies’ struggles adapting to Iisalo’s system. — Bobby Marks
What should we be paying attention to over these next few weeks?
Memphis hosts Dallas and Oklahoma City in its next two outings before hitting the road for matchups against the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs. That’s a tough chunk of the Grizzlies’ schedule, and throughout that period, perhaps Morant and the brass experience a breakthrough that solidifies the relationship. Things could just as easily go the other way.
It’s worth mentioning that Morant and Jackson are close, with the type of relationship where both teammates feel comfortable enough to express their true feelings to one another. It’s likely the duo has already addressed this matter privately and are working behind the scenes to achieve the best possible outcome for the franchise and Morant.
On Monday, Jackson expressed confidence in the team’s ability to successfully navigate its recent struggles.
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“[We need] just a lot more of the right things,” Jackson told reporters. “Whatever is going right in the game, a lot more of those good stretches, a lot more of just the right stuff. It’s gonna take buy-in from everybody. But we’re fully capable. We have all the tools and pieces. We have everything that we need to be successful. So, it’s not something I’m too worried about. But the urgency’s got to be there.”
Asked whether everyone on the team had bought in, Jackson said, “Of course.”
“We’ve always had buy-in from everybody,” he added. “We’re locked in, man, always locked in.” — Wright
