The Memphis Grizzlies want to trade Ja Morant, but the market is quiet. Here's a look at their options, from attaching draft picks to running it back with him.
The Memphis Grizzlies want to move Ja Morant. That much is clear at this point, and it has become something of an open secret around the league. Memphis is shopping its franchise point guard.
But will anyone bite?
So far, it doesn't look promising. Recent rumors suggest there's little appetite for Morant, and it wouldn't be a shock if he opened next season still in a Grizzlies uniform. Part of that hesitation is easy to understand. Morant played just 20 games in 2025-26 before a left elbow injury ended his year, so any team trading for him is betting on both his health and a contract that pays him roughly $42 million next season.
Can the Grizzlies live with that outcome?
The Situation With the Grizzlies and Morant Could Get Awkward
They may not have much of a choice.
Memphis can't force a team to take Morant. If nobody wants him, nobody wants him, and the real question becomes what the Grizzlies do next.
Sending Morant home is one theoretical route, though the league could step in. If the NBA reads it as tanking, it can fine Memphis until Morant is back on the floor. Carrying his contract as dead money for the two seasons left on his deal isn't an appealing alternative either.
That leaves two realistic paths. The first is to sweeten the pot. There's surely a price that gets a deal done, and attaching a few unprotected first-round picks would get someone to take Morant off Memphis's books. The problem is obvious: a rebuilding team shouldn't be in the business of shipping out assets.
Which points to the other option. Keep Morant, and play him.
That carries its own complications. Morant is a ball-dominant guard coming off a season in which he hit just 23.5% from three across that injury-shortened sample. Starting the Cameron Boozer era with another high-usage playmaker isn't ideal, especially when Memphis would rather run its offense through Boozer as a frontcourt hub.
Then there's the locker room. The relationship between player and team has almost certainly cooled, and keeping a guy in the rotation while the whole league knows he's available rarely ends well.
So is this unsolvable?
The Grizzlies Must Make the Right Morant Decision
Memphis has to set a price and hold to it.
My view: one unprotected first is a reasonable cost to move on and open a new chapter of Grizzlies basketball. If no suitor bites at that number, Memphis can't justify piling any more draft capital onto his deal.
There's also a case for patience. Pairing Morant and Boozer for a season wouldn't be the end of the world, and the two could even click into a dangerous duo. A future for Morant in Memphis isn't impossible.
More likely, though, he becomes easier to trade next summer with another year shaved off his contract. As frustrating as it is, this one may drag on a while longer. It comes down to how badly the Grizzlies want it done.
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