What Ja Morant’s homecoming means for the Memphis Grizzlies’ already unstable season
Morant sat next to the judge in charge of a case accusing him in assaulting Joshua Holloway, who was 17 years old at the time, in July 2022.
He wore a black jacket and a white shirt and faced a wood-paneled wall with pictures of judges in robes.
FedExForum was just a few hundred yards away, but it seemed like a world away. In times of prosperity, Morant’s job would be on show there. On this day, though, he was serving a 25-game NBA ban that would end in a few days.
Family, friends, and people who saw the fight that happened in 2022 on the basketball court to the backyard for Morant’s home in the Memphis area watched from the crowd.
They’ve been following him around since he got to Tennessee’s biggest courthouse that morning.
It’s an elaborate neoclassical complex that takes up an entire city block and was featured during the 1991 horror movie “The Silence among the Lambs.”
Carter, Morant’s lawyer, got a basketball off of a table and threw it to his client early in the trial. Morant threw it away. Carter gave it to Morant again, and Morant gave it back to Carter.
The purpose of the conversation, which took the form of a law question, was to show what a normal check ball looks like in a pick-up basketball game.
Morant said that he asked Holloway. Morant said that Holloway didn’t answer and instead drew his pants up.
Because that’s what Morant’s lawyers said happened: Holloway threw a one-handed pass that struck Morant in the face because he was mad about losing a few games.
Lawyers for Morant have tried to get the case thrown out by saying that Morant acted in self-defense.
The Grizzlies have been losing more games since Morant left. The team was built to handle having its star player suspended, but illnesses have ruined it. Public scenes of anger and shame have been made public.
After 25 games, the Grizzlies (6-19), who have been led by Morant for four seasons, are tense and about to lose. Of course, it was Memphis Grizzlies basketball.
After being sued and having his image shattered, it’s not clear what kind of Ja Morant will be back on the court Tuesday night, or even if it will matter this season.
Following sixteen days with two wins and four losses, the Grizzlies played the Minnesota Timberwolves to Memphis.
With a sprained foot, newly acquired guard Marcus Smart watched the game from the bench. This was a picture depicting the Grizzlies’ injury-plagued season.
The Timberwolves were ahead 20–10 after a Naz Reid dunk with 7:58 left in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies called an interruption to stop the flow, and Smart went off.
The Grizzlies bought Smart in June after nine seasons with the Celtics. They hoped that his leadership and that of veteran Derrick Rose would help the team’s backcourt without Morant, who was suspended following an Instagram Live video in May showed them brandishing a gun for the second time in as many months.
Because their star player was out, the Grizzlies thought they could still win, just like they had in the past. As of the start of this season, the Grizzlies were 142-106 (.573) when Morant participated and 37-24 (.607) when he didn’t.
But the plan didn’t work out as planned. The team revealed on Oct. 22, three days before the 2014-15 campaign began, that veteran player Steven Adams would have surgery on his right knee to end the season.
First, he hurt his knee in March, and the Grizzlies said he would be out for three to five weeks.
The Lakers beat the Grizzlies on the boards and easily got past Memphis in the first round. They missed him a lot during the rest of the regular year and the playoffs.
It was hoped that Adams would be able to escape surgery, heal his knee, and be ready for training camp. It did not happen.
Adams went to camp and played in a few training games, but his right knee wasn’t feeling good. He had to have surgery.
The most important player for the Grizzlies, the starting center, would be absent during the season.