NEW ORLEANS – As a triumphant Ja Morant screamed while running to the Memphis Grizzlies’ locker room, his teary-eyed father, Tee, stood just a few feet away from where his son made a beautiful game winner in his long-awaited return from a self-induced nightmare.
“My emotions are everywhere right now,” Tee Morant told Andscape. “In God’s time, everything works itself out. I was just so elated for him to be back on the court and prove what he is here for. God touched my child for a reason. By the way, he’s back!
“I’m a little sensitive when it comes to my kids, period. The NBA needs to be aware. We back! The Grizzlies, we back! They finally let Cujo off the leash.”
Yes, Morant was officially back for the Grizzlies during a stunning 115-113 victory after overcoming a 24-point deficit to the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night at the Smoothie King Center. This was after serving a 25-game suspension for displaying a gun on social media twice. The physically exhausted guard scored 27 of his 34 points in the second half, including a spinning game-winning layup at the buzzer against renowned Pelicans defender Herb Jones. The Grizzlies snapped a five-game losing streak and are now 7-19 on the season.
Morant celebrated with his Grizzlies’ teammates, coaching staff and even former LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels before heading to the visiting locker room. But Morant’s most emotional exchange came with his father.
“Having him back courtside, not only rooting for me, but this team, it was big-time,” Morant said.
Said Tee Morant: “He just told me that he loved me.”
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The two-time NBA All-Star has lived up to the hype after being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. The 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year averaged 22.4 points, 7.4 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 248 games from 2019 to 2023. The 2022 NBA Most Improved Player averaged more than 26 points in each of the last two seasons. Morant quickly became one of the NBA’s rising stars due to his stellar athleticism, big plays on both ends and late-game heroics like on this night. He has a signature shoe with Nike and had the league’s eighth-best selling jersey from October 2022 to September.
But Morant’s fall began after he was suspended eight games for flashing a gun on Instagram Live on March 4. The Grizzlies were the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed in the NBA playoffs but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. Afterward, Morant told reporters that he had to make better decisions than the ones that affected him and the Grizzlies.
Two weeks later, however, Morant was in a car with friends when he was caught holding a handgun in another Instagram video. On June 16, NBA commissioner Adam Silver suspended Morant 25 games from the start of this season without pay. Morant lost $7.7 million ($309,000 per game) for the second incident.
Morant has also been involved in a civil court hearing where he has been accused of punching a 17-year-old during a pickup basketball game at his home in the summer of 2022. His lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case because Morant says he was acting in self-defense. He has been talking weekly with the NBA office and the National Basketball Players Association during his absence. Morant spoke to Silver last week via Zoom, and says he plans to talk to him “more often” in the aftermath to continue to build their relationship.
“It was good. He pretty much checked on me and asked how I was doing. It was a cordial meeting and he was excited to have me back playing, enjoy the moment and stay locked-in,” Morant said.
Pelicans guard CJ McCollum, president of the NBPA, said he has had several meaningful conversations with Morant during his absence and talked to his father on Sunday. McCollum said the NBPA is always available as a “sounding board for life” and to offer support on and off the court for therapy, counseling and more.
“I’m sure there is a lot of growth, a lot of learning and a combination of frustration of not being able to help your team,” McCollum told Andscape. “The perspective shifts when you have to sit down for a little bit. I’ve had some injuries where you really have to take a step back. You understand what is really important and what kind of mark and impact that you want to have on not only your club but your family.”
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Morant said during his first news conference of the season on Dec. 15 that he has “made a lot of mistakes.” He added that he felt guilty that Grizzlies went a dismal 6-19 in his absence. Not only has Morant been out, the Grizzlies lost center Steven Adams for the season to a knee injury. Forward Brandon Clarke told Andscape that he expects to make his season debut around the NBA All-Star break after being sidelined due to an Achilles injury.
The Grizzlies, however, may now have a roster that is better for Morant, 24, and their other young players with the addition of veterans Marcus Smart, Derrick Rose and Bismack Biyombo. Smart is a nine-year veteran guard who played in the 2022 NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics, Rose is a three-time NBA All-Star guard who was the 2011 NBA MVP and Biyombo is a 13-year veteran who is starting at center for Memphis. Memphis was known for having an immature roster devoid of veteran leadership. Now, Morant says, he and his teammates are being very honest with each other.
Smart told Andscape he had a frank conversations with Morant and wants to serve as a mentor.
“We have sat down and talked. And it really had nothing to do about basketball, it was about life,” said Smart, who has been sidelined with a left foot sprain. “Just understanding how blessed we are to be in this spot, to be able to feed our families and do it at the highest level and live out our dreams. And, excuse my French, never take this s— for granted, because it can be gone in any second.
“He has had to deal with that. He has had a little bit of taste of it could be gone and understands to try not to let that happen again. It’s good to hear from him about how he feels about everything in his life and to see him still have a smile on his face.”
Morant got in his pregame work about an hour before the game. He slapped hands with several members of the Grizzlies organization, including general manager Zach Kleiman and former Grizzlies guard turned color analyst Brevin Knight. Tee Morant also was sitting nearby as his son got up jump shots. Tee Morant told kids attending the Up Next Elite Camp in August, “my son didn’t get in trouble cause of people around him. He got in trouble because of his decisions.”
Tee Morant said that he was aware of criticism from media and on social media that he could have done more to prevent his son’s downfall. He says he is more worried about protecting his son than himself.
“Man, I don’t care. They can talk about me all they want. But once you attack my kid, I got broad enough shoulder to take anything they throw at me to protect my family,” Tee Morant said. “I’m the first line of defense. There is no manual to parenting. Nobody ever got it right in other people’s eyes. But to bring this kid from Dalzell, South Carolina — South Carolina stand up, by the way — to this status to be as great as he is with more curves to turn, the judgment is going to happen. But at the same time, the cream is going to rise to the top.”
Morant credited his growing faith in God and his family for getting him through it all with “moral support.” Morant said that there was a silver lining through it all because his family regularly told him they were proud of him because of his growth.
“Over this little time, I’ve been putting a lot of trust in God even more,” Morant said. “I’m getting closer to God. I know he has a plan for me. It’s already written. I’m just letting him lead me.
“There is a lot of emotions throughout the whole family. We all were pretty much excited. It was like, ‘Yeah, Ja is back.’ But it was sad in a sense.”
Gerald Herbert/AP Photo
Roughly a 5½-hour drive from Memphis, the Smoothie King Center crowd included a respectable number of Grizzlies fans wearing Morant No. 12 jerseys from the Grizzlies and his college Murray State. The arena’s public address announcer announced Morant last during the visiting team introductions. The crowd offered a mixed response as he was introduced for his first game since April 28.
Morant said he had been “prepping for eight months” and was “trying to be in the best shape possible.” And once the game started, the Pelicans fans booed Morant when he touched the ball.
“There are a lot of people that don’t like me. You see where that got them,” he said. “The surprising part was when I got called into the starting lineup, there was a lot of cheers. But then when the game started, there was a lot of boos. I don’t know. I don’t know what I did to the Pelicans or their fans. They got to root for their team. It’s all good.”
Morant scored his first basket on a layup with 10:35 left in the first quarter. The 6-foot-2, 174-pounder had seven points on 3-of-8 shooting, missed all three 3-pointer attempts and had three assists on two turnovers in 16 minutes in the first half. The Pelicans were up 60-41 at halftime after 15 points from McCollum.
“In the first half, I was trying to figure out the game,” Morant said. “And then, [at halftime] I pretty much told the team to stay together and that we can make a run.”
With the Pelicans up 24, their coach Willie Green offered some pleasantries and shook Morant’s hand with 10:56 left in the third quarter. Despite asking out for a break at one point, Morant scored 13 points in the third quarter to cut the Grizzlies’ deficit to 87-77.
With the game tied at 113-113, McCollum badly missed a 3-pointer with 12.1 seconds left that was rebounded by Morant. Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins called a timeout to Morant’s chagrin initially with 9.1 seconds left. Morant, however, used the timeout to use a massage gun on a cramping calf. And when Jenkins decided that the game-winning shot was going to Morant, he initially turned it down until teammate Desmond Bane cursed him.
Morant ended his return in The Big Easy with a Hollywood ending by scoring a whirling game winner at the buzzer.
“I felt like it was the perfect ending on the perfect day to be able to come back and play and also deliver a game winner,” Morant said.
Morant said it was self-explanatory when he said while running to the locker room after the win that he had “receipts.” Before heading to the locker room shower, he was given a portable speaker and played “Respect the Game” by rapper Meek Mill with several media members and teammates nearby. As Morant departed from the locker room, “What More Can I Say” by rapper Jay-Z was poetically blaring from the speaker.
The return of Morant had been over for more than an hour when he was finally able to depart to the Grizzlies’ last bus. There were a lot of patient family and friends with backstage passes waiting to congratulate him one final time. It included a hug from his father.
“It’s been hard. As a Black father, you cannot give enough comfort and tell your children that everything is going to be all right, because you don’t know the outcome,” Tee Morant said. “It’s crazy. But at the same time, it was one day at a time. One step at a time. I told the team, I told the family, gravitate around him and make Ja realize that no matter what the sun is going to shine again.
“You see it. It’s bright as hell out there.”
