(Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
The facts about Ja Morant’s latest controversy with the Memphis Grizzlies are already known. After a 117:112 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in which he scored only eight points, Morant was asked what went wrong. His answer: “Go ask the coaching staff.” When pressed on what the team could have done better, he said, “According to them (i.e, the coaching staff), probably not play me at all.” Soon after, the Grizzlies announced Morant’s one-game suspension, while reports surfaced that head coach Tuomas Iisalo confronted him in the locker room over a lack of leadership and effort.
We don’t know precisely what unfolded behind closed doors, but what we do know from the game footage leaves little doubt: Ja Morant’s effort in that game was far from complete. To put it mildly. Before diving into the tape, some context is needed.
Morant’s minutes this season are down to 28.6 per game, the lowest of his career. Against the Lakers, he played 30:58, finishing with 3-for-14 shooting, 0-for-6 from three, and seven assists.
His coach, Finland’s Tuomas Iisalo, comes from Europe - and, as with other European coaches such as David Blatt in Cleveland a decade ago, there may be differences in mentality regarding stat treatment. But it’s important to note that Iisalo isn’t a conventional European coach.
While most European teams operate with clear hierarchies, Iisalo won secondary European titles with Bonn and Paris by emphasizing an ultra-fast tempo, aggressive defense, and relentless effort from every player, supported by constant substitutions to keep lineups fresh. That’s the system he’s trying to implement in Memphis - one that currently shows up mostly through frequent multiple-player substitutions. The aggressive defense and fast-paced offense haven’t fully clicked yet, perhaps in part because of his star point guard’s attitude.
So what did Morant’s game actually look like? Let’s start with the offense. His shot chart alone suggests passivity, even before watching a single possession. Every attempt inside the arc came from midrange, far from the rim - strange for one of the league’s most athletic players facing a team known for its backcourt defensive issues. As the shot chart shows, Morant barely tried to attack the basket.
How extreme was his passivity? One example stands out. When Jaren Jackson Jr. struggled to drive, Morant cut correctly from the weak side toward the free-throw line. Jackson found him wide open - with Luka Dončić, one of the league’s weaker perimeter defenders, guarding him. Morant could have shot or driven, but instead he stood flat-footed - a recurring theme - and passed out to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who scored, but only because Morant seemed unwilling to initiate contact or take the shot himself.
Another offensive sequence underlines the same point. Jaelyn Wells set a screen for Morant to force a switch, leaving Dončić on him with 14 seconds left on the shot clock. Morant, shooting 15.6% from three this season, settled for a pull-up three and missed instead of driving to the hoop. Again, passive.
His passivity was most visible in the second quarter - ironically, Memphis’s best stretch of the game. Their best minutes came without him. When Morant checked out with 8:48 left in the quarter, the Lakers led 39:36. When he returned, as part of a four-player substitution with 3:29 remaining, Memphis led 57:50. The run featured possessions where the ball went inside to Jock Landale, kicked out to Cam Foster, and ended with a John Konchar three - effective team basketball.
Morant re-entered as the team extended its lead to 69–55 by halftime, but even then, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope often brought the ball up while Morant stood in the corner. His second-quarter stat line: 6:41 minutes, two points (2-for-2 from the line), and zeros in every other category.
Defensively, the effort was just as concerning. Take this possession: Morant’s task was simple - to guard Marcus Smart, who wasn’t involved in the primary action and merely moved from the corner to the wing. Still, Morant needed to stay engaged as part of the team’s defensive rotation. When Jarred Vanderbilt cut to the rim after a pick-and-roll, Morant should have tagged him to prevent the pass. He didn’t move. At all.
How should a defender act in that situation? On a similar play, Cam Foster, guarding the corner shooter, Dalton Knecht, shifted with the ball toward the pick-and-roll, tagged Jaxson Hayes on his roll, then boxed out and even got a hand on the ball. He’s clearly committed.
One last example captures the issue perfectly. Morant guarded Smart again - this time with the ball. Smart, slower than in his prime, received a screen from Dončić. Cedric Coward, defending the screener, didn’t react, but Morant was beaten easily as Smart drove and scored a simple layup. So simple, in fact, that it’s puzzling the Lakers didn’t exploit it more often.
The bottom line is clear: Ja Morant mailed it in and did the bare minimum to compete. It’s unclear how this story ends, but something has to change. In most coach-star conflicts, it’s the coach who gets fired. But Memphis already made a coaching change late last season. The question now is whether Ja Morant can truly buy into a coach who comes, quite literally, from another basketball world.