Ja Morant’s first trip back to Memphis as a member of the Trail Blazers arrives Thursday, and he’s not treating it like a grudge match.
Portland heads to face the Grizzlies, the team that drafted Morant and had him for his entire career before this season. Even with some public friction in the past, Morant said there’s no bitterness heading into the reunion.
“not a big grudge guy”
“ Nothing harsh from me for Memphis. At all,” Morant said.
“ My Memphis time was great, man. That’s tough to, you know, just take out of the picture after a couple months (in Portland), ” Morant continued.
“ I don’t know if nothing can top, you know, my time in Memphis … unless I win a chip (title). And that’s the goal this year.”
Morant also said he accepts responsibility for some of the choices he made during his time with the Grizzlies, while adding that it “wasn’t all me.”
Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo also addressed the situation, saying the outside noise around Morant’s departure has been overstated.
“ People rely on second-, third-hand information on this and they get blown out of proportion,” Iisalo said, per Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com (Twitter video link). “ I always said we had a great working relationship.
We saw a lot of things in a very similar fashion, and just like in any situation, it doesn’t always go like you maybe intended to. I’m just happy both teams and both parties are doing really well right now.”
Morant will bring a strong start into Thursday’s game. The Blazers are 3-0, and he’s averaging 16.3 points and 6.3 assists while shooting .588/.444/.833.
Around the Southwest Division, New Orleans has not shown any interest in moving Herbert Jones despite his light workload to open the season. Jones is averaging just 17.0 minutes per game through the Pelicans’ first week, the lowest mark of his career, but Marc Stein of The Stein Line reports that the team’s stance on his trade value has not changed. The Pelicans have long set an extremely high asking price for Jones, and the limited minutes haven’t lowered that bar.
In Houston, Alperen Sengun discussed the back issue that is expected to keep him out for some time. “ I got hurt, but I don’t think about it in the game,” Sengun said, per Houston Chronicle’s Varun Shankar (Twitter link).
“ Not like I’m saying I got hurt but you know, feeling little pain in the game but I don’t think about it.” Ime Udoka has said Sengun could miss multiple games because of the tightness in his back.
And in Dallas, Cooper Flagg is off to a fast second season. Through three games, he’s putting up 25.0 points, 6.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 steals heading into Wednesday’s matchup with the Thunder. He’s also already thinking bigger, saying he’d love the chance to represent Team USA at the 2028 Olympics.
“ Obviously, for me, I’ve played for the country before when I was younger, playing for under-17 teams, stuff like that. So for me, it’s obviously a pleasure to be able to play for my country, ” Flagg said.
“ Any chance I get it, I have no idea what it’s going to look like. It’s a good way down the road.
So obviously, if I was ever asked to be able to play for my country, that’s something I would love to do,” Flagg continued. “It would be amazing.”