It's rumored that Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant is on the trading block after the recent drama in Tennessee. Sam Amick of The Athletic reported Wednesday that the Houston Rockets are “unlikely to pursue,” according to team sources, which would be the right move for Houston.
Ja Morant's decline highlights risk
Morant is currently averaging just 20.4 points per game (his lowest mark since 2021), while shooting a career-low 39% percent from the floor and just 13% from three-point range. All while Memphis has altered its approach under first-year head coach Tuomas Lisalo to preserve Morant's energy – but, so far, the results have gone in the wrong direction.
It might be shortsighted to write off a 26-year-old with Morant's upside because of a slow start. After all, he isn't that far removed from being in the “face of the NBA” conversation. But more than his play on the court, Morant doesn't seem to be a good stylistic fit for Houston either.
A culture clash waiting to happen
As Amick wrote in his article, the NBA should stand for “Nothing-But-Alphas.” In Morant's case, that description seems more like a warning than praise.
The guard comes with more baggage than a Spirit flight. He has more suspensions than All-Star appearances, including one just last week for publicly criticizing his new coach, just weeks into Lisalo's tenure.
That style doesn't seem to mesh with what Rockets head coach Ime Udoka has built. Houston has turned around this franchise by relying on young stars who seemingly lack ego. When former first-round pick Cam Whitmore began acting above his role, Udoka left him on the bench before Houston shipped him out this past offseason.
The star the Rockets did bring in was Kevin Durant, a player who, despite some of his faults (i.e., burner accounts), seems to lack that same alpha star ego, making him the perfect fit for Houston. It's why he was willing to join Golden State, knowing it wouldn't be “his team,” because Durant just wants to win.
The same motivation must be questioned for Morant, who even admitted this week that he has “lost his joy” playing basketball, amid reports that he has quit on his team. That's not the mentality Houston has built its success around.
If history is any guide, then the Rockets already know better than to bring in another ball-dominant guard, a la James Harden, Chris Paul and John Wall in previous years. Yet the Rockets enjoyed plenty of success with the understated Fred VanVleet running the offense last season.
Adding Ja Morant would break the Rockets' offensive rhythm
VanVleet's ACL injury might make Morant look like a tempting replacement, but it would seem too soon to give up on Houston's offensive experiment of Amen Thompson running the point and Reed Sheppard playing more minutes.
The Rockets need answers on Sheppard's capabilities and future, as well as Thompson's ability to run an offense. Houston has also done a great job of running the offense through Alperen Sengun in VanVleet's absence, turning the forward into one of the best-performing players in the league.
The Rockets already have the No. 1-ranked offense in the league, so why disrupt that?
Morant ranks 12th in the league in usage rate, and his 2022-2023 season is top 10 for usage rate since COVID. Meanwhile, no Rocket currently cracks the top 42. Morant is not the off-the-ball type of guard the Rockets might need him to be, nor is his defense up to Udoka's standards.
Additionally, this is a Rockets team that has needed shooting for two years, something that Morant wouldn't help with, but would actually exacerbate. Houston currently has the most efficient offense in the league, while Morant's shooting numbers show a serious lack of efficiency on the offensive end.
Morant is a bad fit, on and off the floor, for what Udoka and the Rockets have built. In many ways, he's the antithesis.
The financials make a trade nearly impossible
Even if the Rockets did want Morant, the money doesn't seem to work. Not only would he come with a three-year commitment, but it would be hard to find a way to fit his salary onto the Rockets' payroll.
Since Houston is already over the tax threshold, they would need to match Morant's $39.4M salary. With the way this team is playing right now, why would you want to break it up? For context, trading Sengun would still not be enough to balance the budget—and he's considered untouchable. Hypothetically, the Rockets would need to include Sengun and another player just to balance the numbers.
And while VanVleet might seem like an obvious swap, his no-trade clause would most likely shut down that route, too.
So the real question is: why would the Rockets be interested in Morant?
Coincidentally, Houston's next opponent is the Memphis Grizzlies, giving the Rockets an up-close look at Morant in action. However, their stance should remain unchanged.
