criticized the Memphis coaching staff<\/a> following their loss to the Lakers on Friday \u2014 when he collected just eight points and made just three shots \u2014 when fielding a question about what went wrong and saying, \u201cGo ask the coaching staff.\u201d<\/p>\nThen, when asked for his other thoughts about the Grizzlies\u2019 third loss of the young season, Morant said, \u201cAccording to them, probably don\u2019t play me, honestly. That\u2019s basically what the message was after.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) reacts against the Phoenix Suns during the second half at the Mortgage Matchup Center. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo reportedly challenged \u201cMorant\u2019s leadership and effort\u201d after Friday\u2019s game in a confrontation that happened in front of the team, according to ESPN, and the outlet added that Morant replied with a \u201ctone deemed inappropriate and dismissive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morant and the Grizzlies have needed to adjust to a new coaching staff under Iisalo after Taylor Jenkins\u2019 firing near the end of last season, but Morant \u2014 averaging 20.8 points through six games \u2014 was supposed to factor in as a key piece.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s their $197 million superstar, signed for at least two more seasons after this one, and during the 2021-22 season, he helped the Grizzlies reach the Western Conference semifinals by averaging 27.4 points per game and winning the NBA\u2019s Most Improved Player award.<\/p>\n
Ja Morant defends during the Grizzlies\u2019 loss to the Lakers on Oct. 31. Imagn Images<\/p>\n
But Memphis hasn\u2019t advanced past the first round since, and at the end of March last season, the Grizzlies shockingly fired Jenkins and named Iisalo their interim coach.<\/p>\n
After Memphis won three of its first five games to open the season, they led the Lakers by 14 points at halftime, but behind Luka Don\u010di\u0107 \u2014 back after missing three games \u2014 and his 44 points, they managed to erase that deficit and escape with a five-point win.<\/p>\n
Morant was also criticized by former NBA star Blake Griffin during the Amazon Prime postgame show, saying \u201cI just don\u2019t love it\u201d given that Morant is making nearly $40 million this year and is supposed to be the Grizzlies\u2019 leader.<\/p>\n
Ja Morant attempts a shot during the Grizzlies\u2019 loss to the Lakers on Oct. 31. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if he was not feeling well, if he\u2019s hurt,\u201d Griffin continued. \u201cBut that, to me, is a very bad sign and is something that \u2026 has to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morant will miss the Grizzlies\u2019 road game Sunday against the Raptors, and he\u2019ll be eligible to return Monday when Memphis hosts Detroit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grizzlies star Ja Morant was suspended one game for \u201cconduct detrimental to the team,\u201d the team announced. Morant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16203,9135,21,9,11,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-25430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-ja-morant","9":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}