Ja Morant returned to the court Monday night, and both he and the Memphis Grizzlies appear content to move on.
Morant scored 18 points in the Grizzlies’ 114-106 loss to the Detroit Pistons at FedEx Forum, marking his first game back after serving a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team. That incident occurred Friday in Memphis’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, in which Morant appeared to be feuding with head coach Tuomas Iisalo while giving minimal effort on the court.
“We had a discussion, and we’re all looking to move forward and beat the Pistons,” Iisalo said before the game. He added that the Morant situation is an “internal matter,” and they won’t discuss it publicly.
Morant, according to The Associated Press, was in the team’s locker room before Monday’s game and ignored questions from reporters. He then got dressed and left to go warm up without saying a word.
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Morant met with reporters after the game, and was incredibly short with his answers.
“No,” Morant said when asked if he felt the same joy he used to feel, before shrugging his shoulders.
He also said his relationship with Iisalo was fine, and everything had been resolved.
“Yeah, they told y’all that, right?” he said. “Obviously they can’t go and tell y’all something I ain’t say.”
The Grizzlies announced Morant’s suspension on Saturday, and he served it in their loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. He had eight points in Friday’s defeat to the Lakers, and seemed uninterested in the contest during the second half. He and Iisalo then got into an exchange after the game when Iisalo questioned his leadership and effort, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
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Morant then largely shut down when speaking to reporters after that contest, and just repeatedly told them to “go ask the coaching staff.”
“Go ask him [Iisalo],” he said. “They had a whole spiel in here, so. … According to them, probably don’t play me, honestly. That’s what basically the message was, so … it’s cool.”
This is the latest issue that Morant has faced in recent years. He was suspended for 25 games two seasons ago over multiple gun-related incidents, and then he was fined last season for whipping out a finger-gun celebration. Morant averaged 23.3 points and 7.3 assists in 50 games last season after he returned from a shoulder injury.
Iisalo is in his first season as the team’s head coach this fall after he replaced Taylor Jenkins on an interim basis last year. The loss Monday was the Grizzlies’ third straight and dropped them to 3-5 on the year. They’ll next take on the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
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While Morant and Iisalo appear to have a tense relationship, both sides are apparently trying to put this incident behind them and move forward. Whether that can last, and the team can start winning again and make a meaningful postseason run, remains to be seen.
