Ja Morant Emasculates Stephen A. Smith After First Take Grizzlies Segment For ‘Cap’

Stephen A. Smith received a befitting reply from Ja Morant after a negative segment on the Memphis Grizzlies on First Take.

Ja Morant Emasculates Stephen A. Smith After First Take Grizzlies Segment For ‘Cap’

Ja Morant (FS Image)

With Desmond Bane traded by the Grizzlies to Orlando in exchange for KCP, Cole Anthony and first round picks, there is an air of uncertainty around the organization. The Grizzlies are the pride and joy of the city. Their fans go harder than almost any other fanbase in the NBA. They’ve been fiercely proud and protective of Ja Morant in the past six years and have endeared themselves to NBA superstars before.

Yet, despite all of this positivity around Memphis basketball, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith had some choice words for the city and for the state of law enforcement there. He talked about it on his First Take segment on Tuesday, starting off with a conversation about whether Morant deserves a supermax extension.

Since he signed his contract extension he’s got about three seasons under his belt. He’s only played like 120 games. He missed 32 games last year. Didn’t play in more than 6 consecutive games in any stretch this season. Now I’mma blow y’all away. Did you know he was on the injured list 15 times? 15. This season. With eight different ailments. Hamstring, shoulder, knee, foot, back, hip, thigh, illness. 15 times.

Smith then moved the conversation away from just his health and broadened it to his availability issues. In his eyes, Morant needs to have a serious conversation with the front office about being out of the lineup so often before an extension is handed to him. The ESPN personality also pointed out that Memphis has only one playoff series win during the six years it has been led by Ja Morant.

Marcus Morris was then put on the spot by Smith. He asked Mook whether he (and his NBA peers) would be comfortable with living in Memphis and representing the city. While Marcus Morris pondered the answer along with his twin brother Markieff on the panel, Smith launched into another series of accusations lined up at the city.

The people in Memphis (are great). It’s a great sports town, great fans, great people. But there’s an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler and others don’t feel it’s the safest environment. I’m talking to the local authorities in Memphis. You’ve gotta clean some of that stuff up, because it’s dissuasive to NBA players. They have talked about it. I know, they’ve told me.

Ja Morant takes exception to Stephen A. Smith, sends out tweets in response

There were a ton of indirect and direct shots from Stephen A. Smith during his Grizzlies segment. Ja Morant was keyed into it and did not miss the disrespect that Smith showed for his tenure there. He also has some stuff to get off his mind after the Desmond Bane trade. Morant posted two tweets about this First Take segment on Memphis, with the first one reading:

Talkin bout the grizz more than the finals wit these (cap emoji) ahh sources

Ja Morant
Ja Morant (Image via NBA/X)

The second tweet bemoaned how Smith used his platform to spread misinformation about his city:

Instead of focusing on the performances we seen from jdub/shai , tj/siakam, how this series is going . we say sumn negative about a city/team on a national level.

Despite all the negativity around Memphis and its lack of basketball tradition, the city has been embraced by each NBA All-Star to be drafted there since the Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to the southern city. The fans embraced the Grit n Grind Grizzlies and the city echoed the mentality of the team, treating players like royalty. It is clear that Ja Morant is taking up on behalf of his committed fan base.

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