Ja Morant was slammed with an unexpected $39 million loss from his salary. The Memphis Grizzlies point guard signed a rookie max extension last year worth $192.2 for five years. Even though he had consistently led the Grizzlies into the playoffs over the last two years, Morant was still not offered a supermax deal from the Grizzlies. It was set to give a decent 30% raise which would’ve made his contract worth over $230 million.
The only criterion that was put forth for the 2022 Most Improved Player of the Year to fulfill was to earn himself All-NBA honors. However, he only received 10 second-team votes and 14 third-team votes out of 100 ballots that were allotted. There are several reasons why Ja was pretty much excluded from the All-NBA selections. One of them had to do with his declining reputation among his peers.
Ja Morant failed to make an All-NBA team this season and will be ineligible for a super-max contract. pic.twitter.com/B9vTPqaMTo
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) May 10, 2023
Another major reason is that he only started 59 games during the regular season and competed in 61 games overall. He would’ve been a serious contender for All-NBA honors if he hadn’t gone through an eight-game suspension.
If he had played 69 games, it would’ve been more than the number of games most of this year’s recipients had played. Ja averaged 26.2 points along with 8.1 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game. The Grizzlies were first-round exits against the Los Angeles Lakers this season.
Ja Morant spotted partying despite an upsetting post-season
Even though the Grizzlies had a very upsetting postseason run against LeBron James and the Lakers, Ja Morant is determined to have fun away from the game. The #2 Grizzlies were projected to win against the #7 Lakers, however, LA’s resurgence had them qualifying in 6 games. Memphis recently let go of Dillon Brooks, one of their best role players around Morant. Brooks involved himself in a lot of drama which ultimately led to his dismissal.
ja morant turning up to big truck by nba youngboy🕺🏾🔥 pic.twitter.com/TJg0f4hi9r
— blax🧃 (@ybdeyo) May 6, 2023
Recently, Morant was seen partying with his friends in a club. NBA YoungBoy’s song “Big Truck” was playing in the background as Morant was dancing around with the spotlight on him. As happy as the point guard may be, his reputation around the city of Memphis and in the NBA is in shambles. In fact, it was because of the off-court antics that he received an eight-game suspension. This in return cost his All-NBA honors.
Ja got into legal trouble after he flashed a gun while live streaming on Instagram. Following this incident, several individuals from Memphis lodged complaints against him for assault. He was accused of beating up a teenager named Joshua Holloway after the latter had accidentally passed the ball to his face. Another complaint was from a shoe store shopkeeper, who claimed that Morant and his mother caused a scene outside of his shop. Cops claimed that the shopkeeper feared that he was in danger.