Recently, Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant was suspended for one game after he made comments criticizing the team's coaching staff in the wake of their home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Morant looked disengaged throughout that game, as he has for much of this season thus far, but wasn't in the accountability-taking mood in his postgame press conference.
Recently, Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green, who matched up with Morant and the Grizzlies last week and beat them, spoke on his thoughts of how Morant's play is reflecting his attitude.
“When we got on that plane, I was telling Steph, like, ‘Man, Ja ain't in it at all. Like, it looked like something happened…' And Steph was like, ‘Huh, quiet protest going on, huh?' And I was like, ‘That's what it looks like,'” said Green, per The Draymond Green Show on X, formerly Twitter. “And then obviously after the game, we saw the comments, and I was like ‘Yep. And rightfully so. There was something going on. And when you see this, it takes you to a space of, ‘Is this the beginning of the end?”
Tough times for the Grizzlies
At this point, it's unclear exactly what Morant would be protesting, as the team fired head coach Taylor Jenkins, whom Morant reportedly had some disagreements with, last season, and has implemented an offensive system much more catered to his limited skillset.
However, the Grizzlies have stumbled out of the gates so far this year, and as Green mentioned, Morant has not been particularly engaged on either end of the floor to open up the campaign (although it should be noted that he did recently hit a game winner against the Phoenix Suns).
In any case, now that his suspension has been served, it remains to be seen how Morant will respond once he's back in the lineup for the Grizzlies' next game. That will occur on Monday evening at home against the Detroit Pistons at 8:00 PM ET.
