On Monday, the Memphis Grizzlies sent their two-time All-Star Ja Morant to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray, officially ending one of the NBA‘s most dramatic sagas. Within just the last year, Memphis has now traded all three of its former franchise cornerstones, Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. signaling a full blown reset.
The Grizzlies had been trying to move on from Morant for the past year now, and the market only continued to drop off. A player who was once viewed as one of the best young talents in the NBA was just involved in a trade that didn’t include a single draft pick.
Now, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins is putting the pressure squarely on Morant to perform immediately as he heads to Portland.
“It can’t be nothing but them getting the best version of Ja Morant because Ja Morant has one foot in the grave and the other foot on the banana peel,” Perkins said. “This is gonna be his last shot, last shot, to prove to the world that he still belongs.”
“We were waiting to anoint this man. And when you talk about falling off, he has fallen off. He has no other choice but to go and deliver … I hope Ja Morant gets his stuff together. I hope Ja Morant comes out and shows us the best version of himself. Ja Morant, when he’s engaged and he’s hooping, he’s great for the NBA,” Perkins added.
Morant won Rookie of the Year, made two All-Star teams, and earned second-team All-NBA honors in 2022 after averaging 27.4 points, 6.7 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game and leading the Grizzlies to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
For a while there, he looked like the NBA’s next big thing. But the last three seasons told a different story.
He has appeared in just 79 games in three years due to suspensions and injuries, and he’s coming off a 2025-26 season in which he shot a career-low 41% from the field and 23.5% from three, playing in just 20 games before being shut down for the year.
Now, he gets a fresh start with the Trail Blazers, a team that just won 42 games, made the playoffs, and is looking to potentially make one last push before franchise icon Damian Lillard rides off into the sunset.
Morant and Lillard create one of the more exciting backcourts in the NBA, and Portland may not even be done yet. They’ve got a crowded rotation of guards with those two alongside Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe, and some believe they could be on the verge of making another trade, potentially for Jaylen Brown.
Whether or not the Blazers land another star, all eyes are on Morant to see if he can seize this new opportunity and get back to that All-NBA form that made him one of the league’s most exciting players.