Ja Morant will rise again

Have you heard Savior by Kendrick Lamar?

The song starts with Kendrick listing multiple icons, then finishing each line with, “but he is not your savior.” In one line, Kendrick encompasses how we deify celebrities and hold them to the highest standard possible.

Now, I’m not here to argue whether that is right or wrong. However, there is no argument against humanity being a flawed species.

To state the obvious, Ja Morant is human.

But he didn’t look it in the 2022 season. Coming off reaching his first All-Star game, winning Most Improved Player, and an impressive postseason, many eagerly awaited what 12 had in store. Early on, he was the focal point of a team tied for the best record in the Western Conference after 30 games.

Who can forget his MSG moment leading the Grizz to a comeback W with a triple-double?

A few weeks later, ESPN’s Malika Andrews sat down with Ja sometime in mid-December amidst the Grizzlies’ hot streak. On December 21, 2022, the interview was released.

Ja was fine in the West.

Memphis was fine too, winning 12 of its next 15 games following the video and supplanting itself as a bonafide NBA title contender. I’m not sure what Jakob Poeltl did to Ja Morant. Whatever it was, as the 2007 hit song goes, “It’s too late to apologize.”

Then, an injury to an important player derailed all momentum. And no, it wasn’t to Ja.

Watch that clip again. Who set the screen allowing Ja to get downhill with ease? Steven Adams. The body-moving big man complimented Ja’s game perfectly. Little did we know that an injury to Adams on January 22 would affect the rest of the year. We knew his loss would hurt Memphis in the short term, and that came to fruition with the Grizzlies losing 7 of their next 8 games.

While the on-the-court issues loomed large, the off-the-court troubles piled up on Ja. Multiple stories were published on a lawsuit filed against him. More stories regarding his friends shining a laser at people associated with the Indiana Pacers were also released. Ja Morant’s national image was tarnishing for the first time in his career.

But Ja and his teammates righted the ship and entered the All-Star break with momentum. Even with that losing streak and amidst the controversies, Memphis was 2nd in the West with a 35-22 record. Ja’s elite playing continued, as he ranked 8th in the NBA’s MVP ladder. Because of an injury to Stephen Curry, Ja was named an All-Star starter for the second year in a row. Hype around his signature shoes was at a high culminating in Nike building Mount Ja. He was on top of the world.

Unfortunately for Ja and Memphis, what comes up, must come down.

Following a 94-112 loss to the Denver Nuggets on the road where Brandon Clarke suffered a torn Achilles, Memphians and NBA fans across the country woke up to an Instagram video of Ja Morant flashing a gun in a Denver strip club. Add in his previous controversies and what resulted was national, no, international backlash.

A 23-year-old with the hopes and dreams of an entire franchise and country weighing solely on his shoulders made a mistake. Remember, he’s 23 years old. I’d be hard-pressed to find a 23-year-old who hasn’t made a poor decision. And to be clear, was it a poor decision? Of course. Should he have flashed a gun on IG Live? Absolutely not. But did multiple other factors out of Ja’s control play a part in exacerbating the video? 100%.

As criticism from the media and fans reached a fever pitch, credit Ja for stepping away from the team and getting the help he needed. This was the first step on the climb back up the mountain. He showed further humility and growth coming off the bench in his first game after an 8 game suspension. I’ll always remember the crowd’s roar when Ja checked in and the reaction to his poster of Kenyon Martin Jr.

While Ja slowly found his rhythm, Memphis finished the season 7-4 in its last 11 games and 51-31, 2nd in the Western Conference. Injuries to Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke lessened the Grizzlies’ championship hopes. But entering the playoffs as the 2nd seed in a wide-open Western conference with a healthy Ja Morant gave Memphis a reason to hope.

As the famous saying goes, “It’s the hope that kills you.”

With 5:48 in the 4th quarter and Memphis down 101-105 against the 7th seed Los Angeles Lakers, Ja Morant rose up for a dunk over Anthony Davis in an attempt to take another leap up the mountain. But Ja lost control, was called for an offensive foul, and landed on his right wrist injuring it. He writhed in pain before he ran to the locker room leaving Memphis without its brightest star. Though Jaren Jackson Jr. kept the Grizzlies in it, LA pulled away and took Game 1.

Memphis rallied in Ja’s absence winning Game 2, and Ja came back for Game 3. But the Grizzlies with a hobbled Ja looked outmatched early on. Then, in superhero fashion, Ja Morant gave the world a masterpiece. He single-handedly – pun intended – kept Memphis within touching distance scoring 22 straight and finishing the 4th quarter with 24.

Though this game ended in a loss, the game 4 overtime defeat was the heartbreaker. Ja’s heroics weren’t enough to split games on the road. Despite Ja and his backcourt mate Desmond Bane playing phenomenally in Game 5, LA took the soul out of Memphis in Game 6.

The 1st round loss to the Lakers wasn’t all on Ja. The Grizzlies are built to take advantage of Ja’s strengths and hide his weaknesses. With no BC, no Adams, and no Kennard after his injury in Game 5, there was no space for Ja to explode in the paint.

At the end of it all, Ja finished the year averaging 26.2 points, 8.1 assists (career high), 5.9 rebounds (career high), 1.1 steals, 0.3 blocks with a 55.7 true shooting percentage and 30.7 from three.

Ja wasn’t the only superstar to lose in the 1st round. After the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo were eliminated, a reporter asked Giannis if this season was a failure.

Real Madrid Manager Carlo Ancelotti gave this response to Giannis:

“In sport, you can’t talk about failure, and in life, you can’t talk about failure. Failure is when you don’t try to do something as well as you can. When you try to do your best, you have a clear conscience, and that’s never a failure, not just in sport but in life.”

With Ja’s turbulent year in mind, there’s no doubt Ja didn’t try to play basketball at the highest level, as well as he could.

So yes, this season was a failure. And that’s ok.

Ja Morant is human. You and I are too, and we fail a lot. I failed 9th-grade Geometry at Memphis University School because I didn’t try my best. Obviously, those are two different circumstances. But the point remains. Failure is rarely the end of the story.

Here’s my favorite quotation on failure from philosopher Confucius:

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”

12 will rise again.