Rumor Has It That the Eastern Conference Is Interested in a Trade for Ja Morant

With Desmond Bane’s trade to the Orlando Magic, rumors of a possible Ja Morant deal have started to circulate. 

The Memphis Grizzlies would prefer not to start the rebuilding process next season if they could have their way.

Sending Desmond Bane packing for a slew of first-round selections might be only the beginning of disastrous events. Probably the largest? Yes, Captain.

The Miami Heat reportedly had interest in Morant as the Golden State Warriors were pursuing Jimmy Butler III, according to a recent report by Yahoo! Sports’ Vince Goodwill.
It appeared to set the stage for a possible deal, should the possibility come up in the future, but nothing came of it. “During last year’s Jimmy Butler saga, I was confused by the many iterations of the name that various league sources brought up to me: Ja Morant in Miami,” Goodwill explained.

For two reasons: (a) Jimmy’s extension and (b) Ja’s long money—I thought this deal was going to be incredibly hard.

Any deal at the trade deadline regarding Morant was going to be complicated, and as the regular season wound down, another reason for that became apparent.

Taylor Jenkins was dismissed without prior notice, and the Grizzlies were forced to head to the postseason behind then-interim coach Tuomas Iisalo
With Bane out of the picture and Memphis reorganized around Iisalo—who was appointed Jenkins’ permanent successor following the team’s first-round Western Conference Playoff sweep by the Oklahoma City Thunder—talks may once again heat up. When that happens, Bane is just another domino that fell.
According to Goodwill, “there were iterations of Ja and Desmond Bane being shipped out,” which could be true given that Desmond Bane was traded yesterday.