{"id":245874,"date":"2026-01-19T06:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/245874\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T06:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:28:07","slug":"ja-morant-scores-24-in-return-as-grizzlies-win-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/245874\/","title":{"rendered":"Ja Morant scores 24 in return as Grizzlies win in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ja Morant leads all scorers with 24 points and added 13 assists in his return to action for the Grizzlies in the NBA London Game.<\/p>\n

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Ja Morant dominated.<\/p>\n

Returning to action after a six-game absence due to a right calf injury, Morant delivered 24 points and 13 assists in his return to the Grizzlies lineup Sunday \u2013 despite playing on a minutes restriction.<\/p>\n

Iisalo said the medical update he received about the two-time All Star was positive a day after Morant practiced with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve discussed this several times this season, when you miss a bunch of games, it\u2019s not so easy to (go) right away into big minutes,\u201d Iisalo said of his expectations for Morant.<\/p>\n

Though trade speculation has begun to swirl around the 26-year-old point guard says there should be no doubt about his desire to keep playing for the Grizzlies.<\/p>\n

After a dominant performance in a\u00a0126-109 victory<\/a> over the Magic, the two-time All Star addressed recent trade speculation about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a logo on my back, so that should tell you exactly where I want to be,\u201d Morant said, referring to a tattoo of the team logo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anybody in here knows me \u2014 I\u2019m a very loyal guy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Morant\u2019s return provided an instant boost for a team that needed it. The Grizzlies\u2019 win was just their third in the past 10 games.<\/p>\n

After sitting out the first game of a European doubleheader \u2014 the\u00a0Magic won 118-111<\/a> in Berlin\u00a0on Thursday \u2014 Morant was appreciative of the fan support he received in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being able to play basketball \u2014 it\u2019s very therapeutic for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI know what I\u2019m capable of out there on the court and I was able to show that tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was big-time, walking off and representing Memphis is what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Memphis built a 33-point lead in the first half \u2014 and this time held on for the win. The Grizzlies blew a 20-point lead in the loss in Berlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just credit to coach putting us in the best spots possible and then just me being Ja and wind up making the right play whether it\u2019s passing or scoring,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got into a great rhythm early, got a big lead, after that it\u2019s just managing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-time All-Star missed the first of the two-game NBA Europe series when the Magic beat the Grizzlies 118-111 in the\u00a0NBA\u2019s first regular-season game in Germany.<\/p>\n

In Berlin, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was disappointed that Morant couldn\u2019t play because the guard \u201chas a tremendous following globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morant is making about $39.4 million this season and is in the third year of a five-year, $197.2 million contract. He\u2019s averaging 19 points and 7.6 assists per game this season \u2014 22.4 points and 7.4 assists for his career.<\/p>\n

He had missed Memphis\u2019 last six games. Morant\u2019s most recent appearance prior to Sunday was Dec. 2, when he played 31 minutes in a 128-121 loss<\/a> to the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ja Morant leads all scorers with 24 points and added 13 assists in his return to action for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,131843,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-245874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-ja-morant-return","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}