Ja Morant may have exited the Memphis Grizzlies’ 131-114 demolition of the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night early after tweaking his hamstring in the third quarter, but he made his presence felt long after the game.
Morant relished his team’s win over a Lakers team that he clearly has no soft spot in his heart for, and he made that rather clear following the game.
After LeBron James flexed on Morant after finishing strong against the Grizzlies guard early in the game, with James even hitting Morant with the “too small” taunt, the highflying guard had the last laugh on X, formerly known as Twitter.
But beyond getting the last laugh over James and the Lakers, Morant emphasized just how much he dislikes the Lakers and why he’s so pumped up to get what is an otherwise comfortable regular-season victory with little stakes attached to it.
“I don’t like ’em. They knocked me out of the playoffs and then last year we had a game and they came here poppin’ on our home floor when I was in street clothes,” Morant said, referencing the Grizzlies’ 2023 playoff exit as well as their March 27 and April 12, 2024 defeats to the Lakers last season at FedEx Forum, via Matt Infield of Action News 5.
Morant has never been one to back down from a fight, and it’s clear that he’s drawing battle lines against James and the Lakers. This matchup would have been more interesting had Anthony Davis been healthy, but the Grizzlies aren’t about to cower in fear even if Davis were to suit up for their next matchup, which will be coming on November 13 — this time at Crypto.com Arena.
Ja Morant and the Grizzlies reignite beef vs. LeBron James and the Lakers
Back in the 2023 NBA playoffs, things got heated between the Lakers and the Grizzlies, with Dillon Brooks playing the role of the central villain to LeBron James.
The beef sort of cooled down between the two teams, especially after Brooks signed with the Houston Rockets, but it was apparent in the way that James and the Lakers celebrated their late-season wins over the Grizzlies last season that there is no love lost between the two.
Ja Morant certainly did his part in stoking the flame, talking smack towards James for taunting him yet coming away with a loss on the night.
“He did [the too small gesture]. I don’t back down from nobody. I don’t care who you are,” Morant said. “You take out the top dawg, who else do you fear? I don’t fear nobody anyway, but yeah. I had to get up.”
The concern now is that Morant had to exit the game early due to a hamstring injury. But the Grizzlies star isn’t too worried, as he simply did not return to the game since they already had the win in the bag.
“I knew we was winning the game,” Morant added.
The Grizzlies now move to 5-4 on the season, and Morant has been excellent to begin the year — with room to improve to spare.
