Ja Morant preparing to face Grizzlies the team that drafted him and with whom he spent his entire career until this season when the Trail Blazers travel to Memphis on Thursday for a game.
Despite some public disagreements in the past, he doesn’t come with grudges, writes Jason Quick for The Athletic (subscriber link). When asked about the meeting, Morant said he’s “not a very offensive guy.”
“No harshness on my part for Memphis. In generalMorant said.My time in Memphis was great, man. It’s hard, you know, to just be out of the picture after a couple of months (in Portland),– continued Morant.I don’t know if anything can top, you know, my time in Memphis … unless I win the chip (title). And that’s the goal this year.”
Morant also took responsibility for some of the decisions he made while with the Grizzlies, though he added that it was “not all me.”
Grizzlies head coach. Tuomas Iisala also spoke upon Morant’s return, trying to clear the air about his relationship with the talented point guard.
“People rely on hearsay and hearsay about this and it gets blown out of proportion” Iisala said, per Grizzlies.com’s Michael Wallace (Link to video on Twitter). “I’ve always said we have a great working relationship. We’ve seen a lot of things in a very similar way, and as with any situation, things don’t always go the way you might want them to. I’m just happy that both teams and both sides are doing really well right now.”
The Blazers enter Thursday’s game with a 3-0 record, with Morant averaging 16.3 points and 6.3 assists on .588/.444/.833 shooting.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- Herbert Jones saw limited minutes during pelicans in the first week of the season, but despite averaging just 17.0 minutes per game before Wednesday’s games, by far the lowest of his career, New Orleans has shown no desire or desire to trade him, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (via Twitter). The team has long been rumored to have an extremely high bar for what they would need in any Jones deal, and his lack of playing time doesn’t appear to have dampened that demand.
- Rockets center Alperen Sengun on Wednesday talked about his back ailment is expected miss some time as a result. “I got injured but I don’t think about it in the game” Sengun said, according to Varun Shankar of the Houston Chronicle (Link to Twitter). “I don’t want to say that I’m hurt, but you know, I feel a little pain in the game, but I don’t think about it.” Head coach Made by Udok indicated that Sengun may miss several games with back strain.
- Cooper Flagg made an impressive start to his second season for Mavericksaveraging 25.0 points, 6.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 steals in three games before Wednesday’s matchup against the Thunder. He’s also already considering the next stage where he could dominate, saying he’d like to play for Team USA in the 2028 Olympics. Grant Offset writes for the Dallas Sports Journal. “Obviously for me, I’ve played for the country before when I was younger, playing for under-17s, things like that. So for me it’s obviously nice to play for my country,said Flagg.In any case, I have no idea what it will look like. It’s a good way down the road. So obviously if I was ever asked to play for my country, I would love to do it,” Flagg continued. – It would be amazing..”