Ja Morant stopped trying to dunk, and it’s the smartest thing he could have done

Ja Morant’s aerial acrobatics made him one of the most exciting young players in basketball ever since the Memphis Grizzlies selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Morant’s fearless approach to attacking the rim produced some of the most spectacular highlights in the league, but they also came with a treacherous downside.

Morant was putting himself at risk for injury every time he exploded off the ground and tried to finish over and around airborne defenders. Back in 2019, my colleague Zito Madu wrote that Morant wasn’t built for such a reckless style of play. Now 25 years old, Morant has been forced to grow up this season in more ways than one coming back from a gun-related suspension.

After Memphis’ tight loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, the star point guard said that starts with protecting his body by no longer trying to dunk every time he attacks the rim. Read the full story from ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, but here are two key quotes:

“I’m not trying to dunk at all,” Morant said. “Y’all think I’m lying. I’m dead serious.”

“Sometimes I get knocked out the air and [a foul] don’t get called, and now I’m out longer than what I’m supposed to be,” Morant said, explaining why he doesn’t want to dunk in traffic. “Sometimes the foul might get called; I still hit the floor, but after the game you might feel that little fall.

Morant has had some of the best poster dunks of the decade. Even the dunks he misses are must-see. If this version of Morant is finished, just remember all the great posters we had along the way:

Morant has only dunked the ball four times this year in 12 games. Back in 2021-22, he dunked 58 times in 57 games, according to basketball-reference. He dunked 55 times in 61 games the next season. The dunk volume was a thrill to watch, but the number of missed games is what really matters.

I keep coming back to Madu’s column from early in Morant’s career. This part sticks with me:

Morant, with his small frame and big attitude, illustrates the risk that is present in some of the most exciting basketball plays. These risks are usually mitigated by the fact the people who approach dunks in such violent manner have the bodies to keep them relatively safe. But Morant is driven to dominate his opponents despite his size. He wants those posters. He wants to humiliate House and Tucker. He wants to be like Westbrook. But every time he goes up in the air against someone 200 pounds or above, he puts his young career in jeopardy.

The solution to the problem of him being too small for the way he wants to physically impose himself, would be for him would be to give up that compulsion to throw himself into people, at least until he’s gained more weight and muscle. But that would be antithetical to who he is. Which is the ultimate problem. He may play in an aesthetically pleasing manner, but what drives that style is the same ruthlessness and desire to destroy his opponents that Westbrook has. It doesn’t seem possible for either of them to be any other way.

Finally, Morant has learned that he can still be himself without putting his body in danger. The Grizzlies are rolling near the top of the West, and they don’t need Morant to galvanize them every night with a highlight play. This is what growing up looks like, and Morant is doing it.