Report: Ja Morant has hated Grizzlies’ new offense this season

According to NBA insiders Sam Amick, Fred Katz and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Ja Morant has hated the Memphis Grizzlies‘ new offense this season. 

The Grizzlies fired head coach Taylor Jenkins and promoted Tuomas Iisalo to interim head coach.

Assistant Noah LaRoche was the driving force behind the Grizzlies going away from ball screens, the scheme Morant liked.

Memphis fired LaRoche.

“Morant played his entire career for Jenkins and remained supportive of the coach up to the end, a league source said,” Amick, Katz and Vardon wrote. “Morant did not, however, like the new offense. He has played in just 43 games this season, missing this most recent stretch because of a hamstring injury while also dealing with right shoulder soreness. But when he’s been on the court, according to a league source, Morant has complained about the new scheme, which takes the ball out of his hands and removes the screens he likes to use as a ball handler to make plays.

“One league source who has seen Morant work out with the Grizzlies recently said, ‘Some days he looks like he’s ready to play, and some days he looks like he doesn’t want to be there … because he hates the offense.’ Jenkins had begun to reinstall some of the plays Morant likes, a league source said, reimplementing the pick-and-roll and other plays involving screens Morant could use to break free. If doing so angered Kleiman and played a role in Jenkins’ firing, one could understand, but LaRoche was the driving force behind the Grizzlies going away from ball screens to begin with — and he’s gone too. In other words, Memphis dismissed Morant’s guy in Jenkins, and the man primarily responsible for the offense Morant didn’t like.”

Morant has appeared in 44 games this season. He’s averaging 22.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists while shooting 44.7% from the field, 28.9% from beyond the arc and 83.0% from the free-throw line. 

Morant was the second overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. The Grizzlies signed the two-time All-Star to a five-year, $197 million extension in 2022. 

Morant, who turns 26 in August, has career averages of 22.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 7.4 assists.