SALT LAKE CITY — Ja Morant’s ability to enter a game has not diminished.
Morant kept pace with the eminent Memphis Grizzlies in a 126-124 season-opening victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night. The two-time NBA All-Superstar finished with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 10 assists and five rebounds in a career-best 28 minutes. It was the twenty-fourth game of his career in which he scored at least 20 points, 10 assists and five rebounds.
“My job as a point guard is to control the game,” Morant said. “I hate letting the other team’s point guard control the game. Anything I can do to make sure it’s in our favor, I try to do.”
Morant’s performance came on the heels of a 2023-24 season marred by controversy and uproar. The NBA suspended him for the first 25 games for pointing a gun at his friend’s live Instagram account. Then Morant, who went on to appear in the top nine games, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
The long rehab process he went through and then the shoulder surgery made Morant realize how much basketball meant to him for a long time. Once he was cleared again for full basketball activities in mid-July, he seemed eager to get back on the court Wednesday.
The year was everything I expected and looked for.
“I was excited to be back there,” Morant said. “These guys trust and believe in me every time I’m on the court, so it’s only right that I go out and play free.”
Morant’s work on both ends of the floor helped the Grizzlies weather a fourth-quarter Jazz comeback. He came up with well-timed baskets or assists every time Memphis needed an answer. Defensively, he worked to be disruptive and prevent the Jazz from fully taking advantage of the momentum down the stretch.
Morant made every little bit he was in court count.
“He only played 28 minutes tonight,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “But it was a very hard 28 minutes.”
Morant’s goal is to become more fruitful and efficient as he continues to get reps. It’s an extension of the art he installed over the summer to give his game a boost and increase his influence on the court.
“That was the biggest learning from this summer: the investment in his body, knowing that we’re going to continue to push him even harder than we have in the past,” Jenkins said. “He responded in the first game. We’ll need him for many, many more games in the future.”
