59 Fun Facts About Ja Morant

What is Ja's full given name?

Temetrius Jamel Morant goes by Ja for short. His father, Tee, filmed his games with a GoPro camera strapped to his head, hoping some college would finally ask for footage.

In which state was Morant born and raised?

South Carolina: Morant grew up in tiny Dalzell, where his parents turned a cracked concrete patch behind the house into a full court and ran workouts there for local kids.

Morant's father Tee was a high school teammate of which NBA great?

Ray Allen and Tee Morant were teammates at Hillcrest High in Dalzell. Tee later shelved his own pro basketball hopes when Ja was on the way and went to work as a barber.

What did Tee Morant have young Ja jump on in their backyard to build his leaping ability?

Tractor tires: Ja jumped on them dozens of times after every drill, and years later Nike modeled the traction pattern of his second signature shoe on those backyard tires.

Which future number one pick was Morant's AAU teammate for a season with the Hornets grassroots team?

Zion Williamson and Morant shared one summer on a small team with no shoe-company backing; recruiters took notice of Williamson then, while Morant's only offers before Murray State came from lesser-known programs.

Murray State, where Morant played two college seasons, is in which state?

Kentucky: Murray is a small town in the state's southwestern corner, yet by Morant's second season dozens of NBA scouts were making the trip there to watch him.

The 2019 award Morant won as the nation's top college point guard is named for which NBA legend?

Bob Cousy: the Hall of Fame names an award for each college position after a great who played it, which is why West, Erving and Malone honor shooting guards, small forwards and power forwards.

Murray State assistant James Kane discovered Morant in a side gym in 2016 after leaving the main court to find what?

A snack: Kane bought chips at the concession stand, heard a ball bouncing in the auxiliary gym and found Morant playing three-on-three. He phoned the Racers' head coach to say the kid would be a pro.

Which future LSU coach was Morant's head coach at Murray State?

Matt McMahon had the Morants over for dinner on their campus visit; Ja pretended to feel overheated, slipped into the bathroom and came out in a Murray State T-shirt to say he was coming.

Murray State competed in which league during Morant's two seasons there?

The Ohio Valley Conference: Morant was named MVP of its 2019 tournament, where a 77-65 win over top-seeded Belmont in the final sent the Racers to March Madness.

The day before drafting Morant in 2019, Memphis agreed to trade away which point guard, its all-time leading scorer?

Mike Conley's 12 seasons in Memphis ended with that deal, and the job passed straight to Morant, who started every game he played in his first NBA season.

As a sophomore, Morant became the first player in NCAA records to average what?

20-plus points and 10-plus assists: he averaged 24.5 and 10.0, and he counts as the first because assists only became an official NCAA statistic in 1983-84.

Morant scored 40 points against SIU Edwardsville in January 2019 without missing a single what?

Free throw: he missed nine of his 17 shots from the field that night but went 21 for 21 at the line, a conference record for one game.

Morant's 2019 NCAA Tournament triple-double came against which fifth-seeded team?

Marquette: Morant had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 16 assists as the 12th-seeded Racers won by 19, the tournament's first triple-double since Draymond Green's in 2012.

Which fourth-seeded team ended the Racers' 2019 tournament run in the second round?

Florida State won 90-62 despite Morant's 28 points. It proved to be his last college game: eleven days later he declared for the NBA draft.

Morant was picked at which spot in the 2019 NBA draft?

Second overall: Memphis had gone into the draft lottery with only a 6.3 percent chance of landing that pick, then used it on Morant.

Which Hall of Fame tight end had a courtside shouting match with Morant and his father at a 2023 Lakers game?

Shannon Sharpe had been trading words with Dillon Brooks from his courtside seat. Security stepped in at halftime, yet he and Tee Morant made up with a hug before the night was over.

Against which team did Morant make his NBA debut on October 23, 2019?

Miami Heat: Morant scored 14 in a 120-101 loss, but three weeks later his layup with 0.7 seconds left beat Charlotte with nearly 100 friends and family in the stands.

Which award did Morant win at the end of the 2019-20 season?

NBA Rookie of the Year: Morant took 99 of the 100 first-place votes, and Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo later named a song after the award for a documentary series about him.

Which team did Morant's Grizzlies beat in overtime in the 2021 play-in to claim the West's last playoff spot?

Golden State Warriors: Morant scored 35 and sealed the 117-112 road win with two driving floaters in the final minute of overtime.

Morant scored 47 in Game 2 of his first playoff series, a 2021 loss to which top-seeded team?

Utah Jazz: Memphis had stolen Game 1 on the road, but Morant's 47 in the next game were not enough, and the top seed closed out the series in five.

Morant set a Grizzlies record with 52 points in February 2022 against which team?

San Antonio Spurs: Morant made 22 of 30 shots and all four of his threes, breaking a team scoring record he had set himself only two nights earlier.

Whose Grizzlies record for points in a regular-season game did Morant break with 46 in February 2022?

Mike Miller's 45 had stood as the mark since 2007. Morant's 46 lasted only two nights before he broke the record again himself.

In 2021-22, Morant collected which award and which first-time selection?

Most Improved Player and first All-NBA Team: voted to the Second Team, he gave the improvement trophy to teammate Desmond Bane, writing that Bane deserved it.

In 2021-22 Morant's Grizzlies won their first ever what?

Southwest Division title: a year after needing the play-in to claim the West's last playoff spot, Memphis won 56 games and finished first in its division.

Morant posted the Grizzlies' first playoff triple-double in a 2022 comeback from more than 20 points down against which team?

Minnesota Timberwolves: Memphis outscored them 37-12 in the fourth quarter of Game 3, and two games later Morant's layup with one second left decided Game 5.

Which two players did Morant join in 2022 with multiple 45-point playoff games before turning 23?

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James: Morant matched them with a 47-point Game 2 in the second round, scoring the Grizzlies' final 15 points while struggling to see out of his left eye.

Morant's 2022 extension would reach $231 million if he did what the next season?

Made All-NBA: the raise hinged on a 2022-23 selection, and when he missed the cut it cost him nearly $40 million over the five years.

Whose Grizzlies record for career triple-doubles did Morant pass in December 2022?

Marc Gasol collected his five across 11 seasons in Memphis; Morant tied him against the Knicks and passed him ten days later, early in only his fourth season.

After a knee injury ended his 2022 playoffs, Morant tweeted that which opposing player "broke the code"?

Jordan Poole reached in on a steal attempt and, Memphis's coach said, yanked Morant's knee. The tweet threw back a phrase Poole's coach had used about a Memphis foul days earlier, and Morant later deleted it.

Morant's March 2023 suspension followed a video he streamed from a nightclub in which state, after a road loss?

Colorado: he went live from a Denver-area club hours after losing to the Nuggets, and the league's eight-game ban counted the games he had already sat out.

How long was Morant's second NBA suspension, announced in June 2023?

25 games: it was his second ban in three months for showing a gun on Instagram Live, and he could not return until he had completed a program worked out with the league.

Morant's return from suspension in December 2023 ended with a game-winner against which team?

New Orleans Pelicans: in his first game back Morant scored 34, erased a 24-point deficit and won it with a spinning layup at the horn, the first buzzer-beater of his career.

What injury ended Morant's 2023-24 season after only nine games?

A right shoulder subluxation: Memphis had gone 6-3 since his return when he hurt it in a training session; an MRI found a torn labrum, and surgery ended his season.

In December 2024 Morant said he would stop doing what in games because of injury risk?

Dunking: a month after a midair hit on an alley-oop attempt sidelined him, Morant said getting knocked out of the air without a foul call kept costing him games.

Which coach, Morant's only NBA head coach until then, was fired with nine games left in the 2024-25 season?

Taylor Jenkins had coached Memphis for six seasons and had the team in playoff position when he was fired; his assistant Tuomas Iisalo took over.

Morant was fined $75,000 in April 2025 for repeating which celebration after a league warning?

Finger guns: he had been warned after trading the gesture with an opponent, did it again two nights later, and after the fine switched to miming a grenade toss.

Which injury ended Morant's 2025-26 season after just 20 games?

A UCL sprain in his left elbow: hurt in January 2026 and at first due back within weeks, he was ruled out for the season in March and never played for Memphis again.

To which team was Morant traded on June 29, 2026?

Portland Trail Blazers: the trade ended seven seasons in Memphis and came after suspensions and injuries had limited him to 79 games over the last three.

What phrase, advice from his mother, does Morant have tattooed on his left arm?

Beneath no one: his mother, Jamie, repeated it whenever he hung his head over the big schools that never called, and Nike later quoted the motto when it launched his signature line.

What was the title of the six-part 2021 documentary series about Morant's first NBA season?

Promiseland: director Dexton Deboree's series kept filming through the season's pandemic shutdown and into the NBA's bubble restart.

In 2022 Morant became the first Grizzlies guard ever to do what?

Play in an All-Star Game: the franchise's three earlier All-Stars were all frontcourt players, and the point guard Morant succeeded went 12 Memphis seasons without being picked.

On which occasion did Nike add Morant to its signature roster and debut the Nike Ja 1?

Christmas Day 2022: he took the court that day in a pair called 'Chimney', named for his line about climbing up the chimney rather than ducking smoke.

Which point guard, a lottery pick in 2015, reached the NBA from Murray State four years before Morant?

Cameron Payne went 14th in 2015, and Murray State's coaches pointed to him and fellow guard Isaiah Canaan to sell Morant on the school's record of sending point guards to the NBA.

Nike billed the Ja 1, Morant's first signature shoe, as what among its basketball signature line?

Most affordable: it started at $110, a price Nike said made a signature shoe an accessible option for all players and communities.

Ja Morant's Nike logo places a stylized 'JA' above what shape?

A chevron: Nike says the mark is a directional nod to the verticality, speed and sharpness of his game and to his ability to rise above obstacles.

Morant returned from a calf injury in January 2026 with 24 points in a regular-season NBA game played in which city?

London: he had sat out the first leg of the European trip in Berlin, and afterwards answered trade talk by pointing to the team logo tattooed on his back.

In November 2025 the Grizzlies suspended Morant for one game after a postgame exchange with whom?

His head coach: Morant's effort had been challenged after an eight-point night in a loss to the Lakers, and he told reporters to go ask the coaching staff.

What was the launch colorway of the Nike Ja 2, Morant's second signature shoe, called?

Purple Sky: Nike said watching Morant in action is as mesmerizing as looking up at a purple night sky.

The Nike Ja 3's micro-traction outsole pattern is inspired by which of Morant's signature moves?

The bulldog crossover: Nike designed the new pattern to bite into the court at the instant he changes direction, which is the moment that move depends on.

Which Nike foam makes up the full-length midsole of the Ja 3, Morant's third signature shoe?

ZoomX: Nike billed the result as the bounciest Ja shoe so far, and Morant has called the foam 'that jet fuel'.

The "1" on the Nike Ja 3's left outsole and the "2" on its right together reference what?

His jersey number: Morant wore 12 at Murray State and in Memphis, and he told Nike's designers not to be scared and to make the shoe rugged and different.

Which player did Memphis receive, with Kris Murray, when it traded Morant in June 2026?

Jerami Grant, 32, came back in the deal as Memphis finished dismantling its young core, having already traded Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr.

In 2019 Morant called which NBA star his favourite player because he, too, felt overlooked?

Russell Westbrook: Morant said he modeled his own game on the guard, a great player who in his view never got the respect he deserved.

Which dance did Morant and Dillon Brooks do on the home team's midcourt logo after clinching a 2022 playoff series?

The Griddy: Memphis had just erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to win the series on the road, and the pair danced across the beaten team's logo.

Which NBA veteran's Elite Guard Camp invited Morant in the summer of 2018?

Chris Paul: his August camp put Morant in front of NBA scouts, who then began turning up at Murray State's games, and he left it rated a likely first-round pick.

Morant scored 38 points, then his college best, in a November 2018 road loss to which SEC school?

Alabama: dozens of NBA scouts travelled to the 78-72 loss, and the Crimson Tide's coach said afterwards that Morant was even better in person than on film.

The Pacers' party said what was trained on them from an SUV carrying Morant in 2023?

A red laser: the NBA confirmed a postgame confrontation and said some of those involved had been banned from the arena, but could not corroborate that anyone was threatened with a weapon.

Where did Morant meet Adam Silver in March 2023 after leaving his counselling programme?

New York: the meeting was held at the league's offices with the head of the players' union in the room, and the NBA announced his suspension the same day.