{"id":634839,"date":"2026-05-10T14:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T14:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/634839\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T14:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T14:04:08","slug":"dont-look-like-you-spent-a-second-in-the-gym-stephen-a-smith-thinks-ja-morants-lack-of-work-ethic-is-the-reason-for-fall-from-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/634839\/","title":{"rendered":"“Don’t look like you spent a second in the gym” – Stephen A. Smith thinks Ja Morant’s lack of work ethic is the reason for fall from stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ja Morant<\/a>\u00a0entered the NBA with much fanfare. Picked second overall in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>, the high-flying 6’2″ guard took the league by storm with his aerial artistry, as shown by the thunderous slam dunks and flashy layups he executed nightly. In addition, Ja showed tremendous potential as a scorer and playmaker, averaging 17.8 points and 7.3 assists per game in his rookie year.<\/p>\n

A few seasons later, Morant had become a full-fledged superstar, ready to lead the Grizzlies into the league’s upper echelon. He averaged 27.4 points during the 2021-22 season and won the Most Improved Player award. The former No. 2 pick also finished seventh in the MVP race, was named an All-Star and earned a spot on the All-NBA team.<\/p>\n

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In fact, many were ready to tag Morant as the “Face of the NBA,” given his ascension to superstardom. However, as many know, he fell on hard times as a result of his numerous legal troubles. But according to ESPN star\u00a0Stephen A. Smith<\/a>, Ja’s downward spiral can be largely attributed to a lack of game development.<\/p>\n

Smith went so far as to say that Morant, based on his miserable performance this season, doesn’t look like someone who has spent much time in the gym sharpening his tools.<\/p>\n

Ja has become stagnant<\/p>\n

Speaking on the “Out The Mud” podcast, Smith blasted Morant’s regression, implying that the latter has to be careful. With the number of talented players who are about to enter the league, he may find himself out of the NBA if he continues on the path that he is on right now.<\/p>\n

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“You, Ja, don’t look like you spent a second in the gym,”\u00a0Smith\u00a0asserted<\/a>, before speaking to the show’s hosts, Grizzlies legends Zach Randolph<\/a> and Tony Allen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Tell me I’m lying. I’m asking you, as former Memphis Grizzlies players, both of y’all \u2014 tell me one thing about Ja’s game that looks like he worked on it. I’m not telling you he can’t play because he’s naturally gifted. What I’m saying is it’s the same stuff I saw when you came into the league,”\u00a0he continued.<\/p>\n

In particular, Smith pointed out Morant’s abysmal perimeter shooting. During his rookie year, he made only 33.5 percent of his three-pointers. Six years later, Ja shot an abysmal 23.5 percent from long distance \u2014 a number that is absolutely unacceptable for a lead ballhandler and playmaker.<\/p>\n

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“I’m looking at Ja like, ‘Yo bro, you ain’t going to work on your game?’ You shot 23% from three-point range. What are you doing? You got the ball in your hands. You’re the point guard. Everything ain’t about dunking on somebody,”\u00a0Smith said.<\/p>\n

Related: “A lot of black people use that for their failures” – Charles Barkley believed racism was used as a “crutch” by African-Americans<\/a><\/p>\n

Evolve with the times<\/p>\n

Judging by Morant’s numbers, Smith’s observation holds water. Outside of driving hard to the rack and finishing with force, Morant has done little to round out his game. He still can’t keep defenses honest due to his lack of a dependable outside shot, whether that’s beyond the arc or even from the midrange.<\/p>\n

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“You got to get to the rack. You got to get to the free-throw line. You got to work on that mid-range. You got to work on that three-point shot. You got to do these things. Otherwise, you’re going to be out of the league. That’s just facts,”\u00a0Smith stated.<\/p>\n

Morant’s questionable standing in the NBA was evident during this year’s trade deadline. Placed on the trading block by the Grizzlies as they sought to start over, Ja stayed up when the deadline passed because no teams were interested in acquiring his services.<\/p>\n

If Morant is keen on reclaiming his status in the NBA, that should be the wake-up call he desperately needs.<\/p>\n

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“That’s about your game. That ain’t about your personality. That ain’t about your troubles. It’s about your game,”\u00a0Smith stressed.<\/p>\n

Related: “Play basketball and stop kicking it with ‘cool’ kids” – Michael Beasley offers sage advice for Grizzlies’ Ja Morant<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ja Morant\u00a0entered the NBA with much fanfare. Picked second overall in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Memphis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[274233,22714,7741,355,99,3692,84155,196815,274234],"class_list":["post-634839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-2019-nba-draft","tag-ja-morant","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-stephen-a-smith","tag-the-grizzlies","tag-tony-allen","tag-zach-randolph"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}