Ja Morant
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The Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies have held preliminary talks over a possible trade for Ja Morant.
The Memphis Grizzlies decided to stand pat on keeping Ja Morant through the NBA trade deadline. Multiple months of rumors saw Morant on the trade block back in the first month of the season when he was suspended for one game. Memphis viewed Morant as an ideal player to move since he clashed with head coaching and the franchise considered blowing it up.
ESPN reporter Tim MacMahon revealed that Morant had embarrassingly low value on the trade market during the Grizzlies talks with other teams:
“He might have negative value on the trade market because of the risks, because he has two max years left on his contract. I was told by one of the teams that’s been frequently linked to Morant in speculation. They would have to be incentivized to consider taking Ja on – in other words, Memphis would have to attach picks with Ja. It has been a rough market for Ja, and there’s no signs that’s changing.”
MacMahon revealed the shocking news that Memphis would have to include draft compensation for another interested team to add Morant to the roster. The Grizzlies likely held on to Morant since they accepted that they would be forced into a bad trade that could hurt their franchise.
Which Team Demanded Picks For Morant?
The Miami Heat have been the one team to get publicly tied to Morant since they badly want to upgrade their overall talent. Morant has had a couple of nightmare seasons in a row, with both injuries and suspensions harming his reputation as an unreliable superstar.
Miami could very well be the team that lowballed Memphis and demanded trade compensation to make the move. The team in question saw their plan backfire due to the Grizzlies deciding to keep Morant a little longer in hopes of his value increasing by the offseason months.
Trae Young getting traded for a weak package hurt Memphis’ chances of getting anything they desire for Morant. The Grizzlies must try to get Morant to play better on the court and look more reliable if they still want to move on from him in the summer.
Memphis Already Committed To Future Without Morant
Memphis already made a huge decision to blow up their current core by trading All-Star big man Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz yesterday. Both Jackson and Desmond Bane getting moved over the past year showed the Grizzlies no longer believing in their “big three” core merging with younger prospects.
Recent reports indicate that Memphis is investing more time to youngsters Cedric Coward and Zach Edey as the most important assets in the franchise moving forward. Morant could stick around longer to try to help develop the new roster, but the Grizzlies have shown enough signs that they want him gone.
The NBA trade market has drastically changed to no longer see max players having the most value unless they are playing at the highest level. Morant struggling to follow his first few seasons of his greatness with negative momentum building has essentially killed his trade value.