Ja Morant is unarguably one of the most entertaining players in the NBA right now. The Memphis Grizzlies superstar took the leap last season as he made his first NBA All-Star. In addition, he also carried the Grizzlies to the Western Conference Semifinals.
Now, in the 2022-23 NBA season, Morant has seemingly gotten even better. In the first four games of the season, Ja is currently averaging a breathtaking 35.3 PPG and has helped the Grizzlies reach a record of 3-1. Morant’s most recent game was against the Brooklyn Nets, where he recorded 38 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Although fans loved Ja scoring at will, the best moment of the game was when he hilariously baited Ben Simmons into committing his 6th personal foul and fouling out for the second time this season.
This Is How Ja Morant Tricked Ben Simmons
Simmons is usually considered a top-notch defender. So when he was fouled out, the Grizzlies certainly took a sigh of relief during the fourth quarter. As we mentioned earlier, the credit goes to none other than Morant, as he smartly tricked Ben into committing a foul. After the game was over, Morant revealed how he tricked Simmons into getting fouled out.
Via ESPN:
“If y’all want to go dig up a play, I think my rookie year I was in Philly — and the same situation happened like that versus Ben in the first half. I went to look at Coach to get the play, and [Simmons] ran through the ball, got the steal and went to dunk … I knew it at that moment. Once I seen him and I was rolling the ball and I was at half [court], I looked at Coach and I see him try to like, ‘Oh yeah.’ So I knew I had him. He was going to press up, and I was just going to force the ref to make the call.”
While the decision by the ref was questionable, it was still an intelligent play from the Grizzlies star. Moreover, it’s obvious that the play wasn’t a fluke, and Morant planned it out when he saw Simmons was the one guarding him.
If Morant can keep up this level of performance for the rest of the season, there’s a really good chance that he may win the first MVP award of his career. At the moment, the only thing that may ruin his chances of winning the MVP award would be getting injured.
