{"id":7546,"date":"2026-02-10T06:19:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/7546\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T06:19:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:19:56","slug":"grizzlies-ja-morant-wont-play-in-berlin-reacts-to-trade-rumors-live-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/7546\/","title":{"rendered":"Grizzlies\u2019 Ja Morant won\u2019t play in Berlin, reacts to trade rumors: \u2018Live with it\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

BERLIN \u2014 Ja Morant said his reaction to reports that the Memphis Grizzlies were listening to trade offers<\/a> for him was to \u201clive with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morant, addressing the media for the first time since multiple reports surfaced last week that Memphis was open to moving him, offered mostly short, occasionally punchy responses during a six-minute news conference ahead of the Grizzlies\u2019 practice in Berlin on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Asked if he would play for Memphis against Orlando on Thursday in Berlin and on Sunday in London, Morant said, \u201cHopefully.\u201d But later in the day, the Grizzlies officially ruled him out for Thursday\u2019s game with a right calf bruise that has kept him out of the last five games. Coach Tuomas Iisalo had said Tuesday that there was a \u201cchance\u201d Morant would play.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, Wednesday was Morant offering the bare minimum about his mindset and status with the franchise that drafted him second overall in 2019 and stuck with him through multiple injuries and suspensions for off-court behavior.<\/p>\n

Asked if he expected to be with the Grizzlies beyond the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 5, Morant quipped: \u201cI\u2019m the only one you asked that question to?\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his cryptic social media posts in the wake of the reports about his future in Memphis, and the online criticisms of his posts (he\u2019s been called \u201cEmo Ja,\u201d and he made the reference himself as part of his answer), Morant said: \u201cYeah, I see it. It\u2019s cool. Funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his conditioning and the ramp-up for his potential return to play, Morant said: \u201cI feel like I\u2019m good.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Iisalo, whom Morant clashed with earlier this season over substitution patterns, which led to a one-game suspension, Morant said: \u201cHe cool. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve had too many ups and downs. That\u2019s just y\u2019all on the outside looking in thinking that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the reaction his fans in Memphis may have had to the idea that Morant could be traded soon, he said: \u201cI think y\u2019all should be more worried about my reaction and not other people. Like, my reaction is more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when a reporter agreed with him on this point that, yes, the NBA universe would like to know his reaction to potentially being traded, and asked him to compare the situation to the other challenges he\u2019s faced during his career, Morant called it \u201cdifferent.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was it. Please remember your coats on the way out.<\/p>\n

An All-Star in 2023, Morant is still considered a \u201cstar\u201d by the NBA, which is relevant this week. Both Thursday\u2019s game in Berlin and the game Sunday between the Grizzlies and Magic in London will be broadcast on Prime Video, which makes them \u201cnational TV\u201d games by league standards. Star players are not permitted to miss those games unless they are legitimately injured.<\/p>\n

Morant\u2019s calf bruise occurred before the news broke that Memphis would consider trading him. However, for the last two games since those reports surfaced, Morant was listed as \u201cout\u201d instead of \u201cquestionable,\u201d which was his original diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Morant\u2019s status has been repositioned toward playing. He and the team also probably have plausible deniability if he doesn\u2019t, because of his extended absence from injury. Any league investigation would likely show Morant was at one time injured, and the league can\u2019t mandate any player\u2019s return-to-play schedule.<\/p>\n

However, Morant is also obviously upset by the trade rumor. League sources said he suggested to at least two teammates, and other NBA players, that he wouldn\u2019t play for Memphis anymore, though that could turn out to be false Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Morant, a Nike brand ambassador, has an opportunity to play in front of a basketball-crazed (albeit mostly Adidas-loyal) fan base in Germany.<\/p>\n

Morant has missed opportunities to play for USA Basketball in past Olympics and the FIBA World Cup \u2014 USAB is a Nike-sponsored organization, and in meetings with U.S. and international basketball chiefs, Nike had expressed a desire for Morant to be considered \u2014 so this would be another chance for Morant to please his fans on a different continent, and potentially sell more sneakers.<\/p>\n

Morant, 26, is averaging 19 points and shooting a career-worst 40 percent from the field in just 18 games this season. He is also not the only Memphis star whose name is coming up in trade rumors.<\/p>\n

In an entirely different set of circumstances, Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr.\u00a0was\u00a0mentioned as a trade candidate<\/a> for the Los Angeles Lakers by LeBron James\u2019 agent, Rich Paul.<\/p>\n

Paul floated the idea of the Lakers acquiring Jackson (to pair with Luka Don\u010di\u0107) via trade for Austin Reaves on his podcast.<\/p>\n

Jackson said he saw Paul\u2019s proposed trade and laughed it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of podcasts,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAt first, I didn\u2019t think it was real. You have to figure out if it\u2019s real, usually now, and I\u2019m not as versed technology-wise as these people younger than me. I was figuring out if it\u2019s AI, deepfake, all that stuff. That\u2019s all I had, I didn\u2019t really have much of a reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN \u2014 Ja Morant said his reaction to reports that the Memphis Grizzlies were listening to trade offers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,190,6305,6306],"class_list":["post-7546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-germany","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}