Ja Morant is once again in the spotlight for off-court reasons.
Morant, who was sitting out his third straight game due to a calf strain, confronted Thompson after the final whistle, appearing to say “you a bum now.”
He also crashed teammate Cam Spencer’s post-game interview.
“Tell him who the best shooter in the house was,” Morant said. “It wasn’t bro from Golden State.”
In the locker room later, Thompson responded to Morant, saying his comments were “nothing of intelligent depth.”
“It was really just running his mouth, and he’s been running his mouth for a long time,” Thompson said, per ESPN. “It’s funny to run your mouth when you’re on the bench. It’s kind of the story of his career so far, just leaving us wanting more.”
Morant has played just 12 of the Grizzlies’ 17 games this season due both to injuries and a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.
He was also previously suspended twice in 2023 for incidents with guns, those two events costing him 33 games and about $8.3 million in salary.
“We all want to see him out there and do his best, but he’s just been letting a lot of other stuff get in the way of that. We need that in the NBA. We need our best players to be out there, and when you’re a star, it comes with a great responsibility. I hate to see that go to waste,” Thompson said.
Thompson, who has struggled in a bench role, scored a season-high 22 points off the bench and matched a season best with six three-pointers for the Mavericks, who split a home back-to-back and have yet to win consecutive games this season.
Early in the fourth quarter, Thompson and Grizzlies guard Vince Williams had words, resulting in technical fouls on both.
Thompson also approached Santi Aldama after he tripped Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, resulting in a flagrant foul Grizzlies forward.
The Mavericks and Grizzlies don’t meet again until Feb. 27.
–with files from The Associated Press