Stephen A. Smith made a rather baffling claim on Tuesday about why star players do not want to play for the Memphis Grizzlies, and the team’s best player was quick to issue a response.
There has been speculation that the Grizzlies could reshape their roster after they traded Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic in a blockbuster deal over the weekend. While discussing that during ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday morning, Smith said players around the NBA have told him they would be hesitant to play for the Grizzlies for safety reasons.
“There’s an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler don’t feel it’s the safest environment,” Smith said. “I’m talking to the local authorities in Memphis: You gotta clean some of that stuff up, because it’s dissuasive to NBA players. They have talked about it. I know. They told me.”
Ja Morant feels there are better things for Smith to be talking about during the NBA Finals.
Shortly after Smith made the comments, Morant took to social media to defend the Grizzlies. He accused the media (presumably Smith) of talking about the Grizzlies more than the series between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Morant wrote in one post on X that people were citing “cap” sources, which is slang for fake or a lie. He then said Smith and others should be focused more on what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and other stars are doing during the NBA Finals.
instead of focusing on the performances we seen from jdub/shai , tj/siakam, how this series is going . we say sumn negative about a city/team on a national level.
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) June 17, 2025
Morant also suggested in a separate post that he is not going to be traded. He wrote “ima be in dat 901,” which is a reference to the area code in Memphis.
& ima be in dat 901 🐻
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) June 17, 2025
source : ME !!
We already explained why we think Smith’s claim about players feeling unsafe in Memphis sounds farfetched. It would appear Morant, who has played for the Grizzlies for the past six years, agrees.
