Goodbye Ja Morant: Memphis' shooting star

His arrival was abrupt. His departure was expect. His brilliance was undeniable.

Dec 26, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) smiles at a fan as the end of regulation against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Finally.

A painful process that began last February has reached its expected conclusion. Ja Morant has been traded by the Memphis Grizzlies.

His exit from the 901 is without the ceremony many expected just four short years ago. It's easy to forget in society's instant gratification world, but once upon a time Ja Morant wasn't just the future of Grizzlies basketball.

He was the future of American basketball. How else do you explain "Memphis Grizzlies Day" on ESPN? Or how random dunks a world away can go viral?

He flew through the air with a beautiful audacity, daring gravity to stop him. He stepped to NBA icons, refusing to fear smoke and proclaiming all was fine in the west.

It, of course, would wind up not being fine. In the end, Jerami Grant (who you could argue in June of 2026 is the best player in this trade) and Kris Murray was the return. And Memphis fans rejoiced that the Grizzlies didn't have to send a pick to Portland to get the deal done...while also mourning what might have been.

Reconciliation. Redemption. A rise from the ashes.

If those things happen, they will have to occur in Portland.

Dec 19, 2024; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (left), forward Jaren Jackson Jr. (middle) and guard Desmond Bane (right) react during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

But the way things have ended do not take away what was. The unapologetically vibrant core of Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. - now officially over, but never to be forgotten. It did not result in the postseason successes and championship aspirations that so many dreamed of. But it did make basketball in Memphis something that it had, arguably, never been.

Pretty.

There's beauty in the mud, no doubt. And in a blue collar city, Memphians appreciate physicality and rough around the edges styles of play. But to watch Morant at his peak was to watch graceful violence, as if you were seeing something that wasn't supposed to be able to happen...well, happen. He led a crew that spoke loudly and carried an aura. Memphis had never seen anything like them before, at least not in Grizzlies Beale Street blue.

That is part of Morant's Memphis legacy - the heights that he carried the city to on his meteoric rise. The man literally has Memphis tattooed on his back. He loved the place, and he was loved by the Mid-South in return. After a brief time in the basketball wilderness after the death of Grit and Grind, the next generation was ready to fly higher than any Grizzlies team ever dreamed.

But, similar to Icarus from Greek Mythology, if you soar too close to the sun, things can fall out from under you. That happened to Ja. The poor online choices, the negative stories, the suspensions. The injuries that kept him off the court for so much of the last few seasons. It all added up to be more than the franchise and the player could bear.

Things had to end. And end they did.

Oct 18, 2024; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) reacts after a dunk during the first half against the Miami Heat at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Have you ever seen a shooting star? They're spectacular to behold, standing out amongst so many other celestial bodies in the night sky. They rocket in and out of your senses, bringing alive imagination and wonder, only to disappear almost as abruptly as they came in to view.

In so many ways, the Ja Morant Era in Memphis will be remembered in a similar fashion. There surely will be those to lament what might have been if the Grizzlies front office had just sat down with Ja, talked things through. And there is the other side, those wishing good riddance to a player who in their eyes wasted away so much potential and had a large hand in creating one of the largest "what ifs?" in Memphis sports history.

But as with so much of life, the truth lies in the middle. That Grizzlies front office that traded Ja could have made better choices to build a roster around their special, but flawed, star. And Morant bears responsibility for his own actions - one doesn't get to enjoy the bright lights of stardom while shunning the attention when things aren't going to his liking.

In this life, though, you remember how people made you FEEL more than anything. Ja Morant made Memphis and their Grizzlies feel as if anything is possible. That even in Memphis a superstar can sign a Nike shoe deal and become something more. That a whole new generation of fans - even 3rd overall picks seven years after Ja's own selection by Memphis - connect Ja to the Grizzlies franchise.

And though it all can disappear just as quickly as it arrived, it didn't make the sight any less striking to behold.

We were all witnesses to the scintillating radiance of Ja Morant. Just because it burned out before we all wanted it to for the Memphis Grizzlies does not make the moment in Memphis sports history any less breathtaking - or less worthy to remember.