Ja Morant not named to the 2022-2023 All-NBA Team

Despite having another statistically impressive season and being one of the NBA’s most talked about players (for better and worse), Ja Morant was not named to the All-NBA team for the 2022-2023 season when the team was announced today.

Morant averaged 26.2 points per game in 32 minutes logged per contest, shooting 46.6% from the floor while dishing out a career-best 8.1 assists per game and also snagging a career-best 5.9 rebounds per game. Despite his regression as a three-point shooter (30.7% from beyond the arc, down from last season’s 34.4%) Ja grew in terms of assist percentage (96th percentile among point guards per Cleaning the Glass, a career high by almost 6%) while also posting a career-low 11.4% turnover rate as his usage for the Grizzlies grows (38% usage rate, 98th percentile).

He also showed growth as a defender, and though he’s never going to be mistaken for Jrue Holiday his effort and attention to detail on that end was a welcome sight.

Ja Morant had an excellent season, and was named an All-Star starter for the second consecutive year. And yet, he was not named All-NBA for a second time, meaning his 5-year contract extension is not eligible for the Supermax and he will now be making $193 million over the life of the contract instead of $231 million. That is an almost $40 million difference – certainly not nothing.

The reason for this is two-fold. One – Morant missed 21 total games this season, with eight lost not because of injury, but because of time away from the team that eventually became a suspension. This was due to off-the-court issues stemming specifically from an incident in a strip club where Morant was seen on Instagram Live holding a gun. There were other incidents throughout the past year, however, beyond this that all add up to questionable judgment at best and something far more problematic at worst. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle – but we will never know what that looks like definitively.

And in the space between reality and perception, people will often go with their view of the matter. Which, beyond Memphis in terms of media (the voters for All-NBA), has been largely unfavorable

Ja has sought (and continues to seek) treatment and was a noticeably different person upon his return to the Grizzlies in terms of how he interacted with his teammates, opponents, the media, and others. But his self-admitted distractions beyond Grizzlies basketball may have cost him here.

On the floor, Ja had sizable competition for this recognition, even before the various accusations and incidents. Those that were named All-NBA guards today – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Donovan Mitchell, De’Aaron Fox, and Damian Lillard – all had remarkable statistical campaigns. In some cases, like Gilgeous-Alexander, Mitchell, and Fox, career-years led to strong regular season showings. Players like Doncic and Curry will be All-NBA as long as they’re healthy given their elite abilities. And even Lillard, though he played in bad circumstances this season, put up the best scoring numbers of his career.

Morant, while he posted a strong season in his own right, did not score at the same level he did last season. And though the incorrect calls of “the Grizzlies are better without Ja” from last year were not quite as loud this season as they were last, the games he missed due to both injury and the suspension in addition to the competition for the award (names like Devin Booker and James Harden are also off the list, two other players with great seasons as guards) meant that Ja was – this season – on the outside looking in.

It was the best and worst of times for Ja in 2022-2023. A new shoe with Nike, which remains so popular they seem to sell out almost instantly, reinforces the fact that Morant is still a key part of the NBA’s future. But his reputation has taken a hit – and for him to return to All-NBA form, it will be both his game and how he carries himself beyond the court that needs to grow.