Draymond Green reveals he saw the clash between the Memphis Grizzlies and Ja Morant coming before the world got to know about it. Morant was suspended for one game for apparently having a heated exchange with head coach Tuomas Iisalo.
The Grizzlies have started this season with a 3-5 record, and things are unraveling under the new head coach. The loss to the Lakers was the final straw that created a dramatic situation in Memphis.
But even before the Lakers’ loss that led to the young superstar taking shots at the Grizzlies’ coaching staff, which further led to the verbal altercation, the Warriors’ veteran center had already observed something brewing.
After their game last Tuesday, where the Golden State Warriors comfortably beat the Grizzlies 131-118, Green noticed something different about the 26-year-old point guard.
“When we got on that plane, I was telling Steph, like, ‘Man, Ja ain’t in it at all. It looked like something happened — like, it ain’t Ja.. He was giving the ball to Cam Spencer and was kind of going to stand in the corner. And Steph was like, ‘Quiet protest going on, huh?’ And I was like, ‘That’s what it looked like.’” Green recalled his conversation with Stephen Curry.
Morant had 23 points in the game, with nine assists, and three rebounds, shooting only 34.8% from the field and missing all six of the three-point shots he attempted. Even though the box score showed decent numbers, the shooting rate and the eye test agree with what Green is contending.
“When I saw [Ja’s] comments, I found those interesting… but all they did was confirm to me what I was watching… and rightfully so, something was going on,” Green said on the latest episode of ‘The Draymond Green Show.’
“What I will say is this: I am not a big fan of suspending your top guys. As a guy who has been suspended through the years, I don’t think it does much of anything outside of piss the guys off. When you’re talking your first and most important player and you’re suspending that guy, there’s always the possibility of like — there’s no coming back from that,” he added.
Green also talked about why this might be happening. As per the Warriors veteran, Morant and other Grizzlies’ players were actually happy playing under Taylor Jenkins. They were not on board when he was fired by the management, and promoting the assistant coach Tuomas Iisalo was also not a popular decision in the locker room, Green believes.
“So when you see this, it leaves you in a space of, ‘Is this the beginning of the end?’ And it takes you back to Taylor Jenkins getting fired and them just bumping the assistant coach up.
When you looked at their team, Jaren, Ja, and those guys, I think they rocked with Taylor Jenkins, I truly in my heart believe they rocked with Taylor Jenkins,” the four-time NBA champ contended.
“So, if that’s the case, and you just up and fire him, you’re almost signaling to Ja and possibly Jaren that you really don’t give a damn what they think about who’s coaching them,” he said.
Having played for 14 years, Green has seen many star-franchise entanglements and thus can see where the team is coming from, how the cards are falling into place, and where everyone stands.
“They’re showing you they don’t care what you think, and usually when they show stars that they don’t care what you think, the next move is usually you,” he concluded.
Today, everyone is openly talking about Morant’s tussle with the coaching staff/management. But Green picked it up way before anyone else. The Grizzlies played without Morant in the game against the Detroit Pistons today and lost, 106-114. Up next, they play the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
