Ja Morant Says He Holds No Grudge Against Grizzlies Before Portland Reunion

The Memphis Grizzlies traded Ja Morant to the Portland Trail Blazers on June 29. Thursday night in Portland, he plays them for the first time, and he said Wednesday that he holds no grudge.

Morant called himself "not a big grudge guy" in comments The Athletic published Wednesday. To him, Thursday is "just another basketball game on the schedule."

Neither team has lost. Memphis is 4-0 and has won the first three stops of a road trip that ends in Portland, where tip-off is set for 9 p.m. CT. Portland, a playoff team last spring for the first time since 2021, is 3-0.

Morant said he has watched all four Grizzlies games this season. Several Memphis players still talk with him.

"Nothing harsh from me for Memphis," Morant said. "At all."

Ty Jerome scored a career-high 45 points on Oct. 21 as the Grizzlies opened with a 123-103 win over the Utah Jazz at FedExForum. Down 12 to the Golden State Warriors with 3:47 left two nights later, Memphis scored the last 17 points and won 111-108.

Jerome scored 31 in a 123-112 win at the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. The NBA named him the Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday, and Memphis won 110-105 at Utah that night.

Each of the four wins has looked a little different, Jerome said in a postgame interview with Grind City Media, the Grizzlies' in-house outlet.

"It's huge, especially against teams in the Western Conference, all Western Conference teams that we're playing right now," Jerome said. "And it's huge. We've been resilient. We've been in dogfights. We've been in some clutch-time games. And we've stayed together on the road in the loud arenas. We've kept our poise. We've done a good job."

Tuomas Iisalo, in his second full season as Grizzlies coach, will be on the Memphis bench Thursday.

On Nov. 1, 2025, the Grizzlies suspended Morant one game for conduct detrimental to the team. The suspension came a day after a 117-112 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Athletic reported that it followed Morant's criticism of Iisalo.

That coach is no exception, according to Morant.

"I'm cool with everybody over there," Morant explained. "I don't got no hard feelings with nobody, unless they got it with me."

Memphis drafted Morant second overall out of Murray State in 2019. He was the Rookie of the Year in 2020.

In 2022, he won Most Improved Player and made the All-NBA Second Team. He was an All-Star that season and again in 2023. Across seven seasons with Memphis, he averaged 22.4 points and 7.4 assists.

His father, Tee Morant, said on his podcast this month that his issue was with the organization's decision, not with the city of Memphis.

The city took him in and treated him like one of its own, Morant said.

"I'm happy, but my Memphis time was great, man," Morant said. "That's tough to just take out of the picture after a couple months [in Portland]. I don't know if nothing can top my time in Memphis … unless I win a chip. And that's the goal this year."

Jerami Grant and Kris Murray made up Portland's side of the June deal.

Detroit traded Grant to Portland in July 2022, and he played four seasons there. Now 32, he is under contract this season with a $36 million player option for 2027-28 behind it.

Off the bench Monday at Utah, Grant went 4-of-6 for 13 points. Eight of them came in the second quarter, and his plus-12 in 23:30 led the team.

Murray is 25 and on track for restricted free agency next summer.

After Thursday, the Grizzlies return to FedExForum to host Sacramento on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT.