Ja Morant will have a 25-game suspension ahead of him when the 2023 NBA season tips off, but once he returns to the court, the Grizzlies will be a real threat. With a blockbuster deal to acquire Marcus Smart, and many of their key players returning for another run at a title, the Western Conference is on notice.
The big question regarding the team, however, is whether or not Ja Morant will be able to return to the court and keep himself out of trouble. Just last season, Morant was involved in a number of controversies that ultimately forced the Grizzlies and the NBA to step in.
According to former Boston Celtics superstar Isaiah Thomas, with former MVP Derrick Rose now on the team, Morant will have a great veteran presence. As many pointed out last season, when the team had a players meeting to discuss staying focused on the road, Steven Adams spoke up as the veteran.
While Adams is a respected voice in the locker room, the 29-year-old simply doesn't carry the same veteran presence as Derrick Rose. After Thomas and Morant tweeted at one another, fans jumped in with some hilarious reactions to the situation.
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Here's the interaction between the two:
Here's how fans roasted Morant:
Will Ja Morant be able to keep himself out of trouble?
As many NBA fans were quick to point out, the big question is whether or not Ja Morant will be able to keep himself out of trouble. As commissioner Adam Silver pointed out, he believed Morant was remorseful last season after the pair talked.
At the time, Morant caught heat for brandishing a firearm on Instagram Live, something Silver believed Morant understood the seriousness of. When the offseason kicked off for the Grizzlies, however, Morant quickly found himself back in the headlines for the same exact thing.
While he maintained that the 'gun' shown recently was a lighter, and his friend backed him up while under oath, Ja Morant needs to make better decisions. With former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and former MVP Derrick Rose on the team, only time will tell whether Morant can keep himself out of trouble.
If he does, it seems as though the sky is the limit both for him and the team.
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