The Portland Trail Blazers have gotten off to a blazing start to the 2026-27 season at 3-0, and big reason for that has been the addition of All-Star caliber point guard Ja Morant. The former lottery pick has seemingly regained the form that made him such an explosive talent with the Memphis Grizzlies, and coincidentally, the Blazers next game on the schedule is against his former team.

For former NBA player turned ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, Ja Morant needs to approach the Blazers game against the Grizzlies as a revenge game in which he makes them pay for trading him during the offseason.

“This organization gave up on you when you were at your lowest point. They said you know what, we can’t even deal with it. You’re not good enough for us to continue to deal with everything and the baggage that you were bringing to the table at the time,” Perkins said during a recent segment of ‘NBA Today. “So now you make them pay.”

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Perkins also acknowledged that it would be different if the Blazers were visiting the Grizzlies because then the emotional aspect plays a factor in things. But with the Blazers hosting the Grizzlies, Morant can play more free. And somebody is going to get their first loss as both teams are undefeated.

Through the Blazers’ first three games, Morant is averaging 16.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 58.8 percent shooting from the field, 44.4 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 83.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.