Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. throws grenade on ‘intense’ Ja Morant trade conversation

The NBA trade rumor mill spares no one, but when the whispers turn to a superstar like Ja Morant, the noise becomes a deafening roar. As reports swirled about the Memphis Grizzlies potentially considering a monumental franchise shift, all eyes turned to the locker room for a reaction. It was the team’s DJ, Jaren Jackson Jr., who stepped forward to spin a raw, empathetic perspective that laid bare the human toll behind the headlines.

Jackson Jr. didn’t shy away from the weight of the moment, framing the business realities that often clash with personal bonds forged in the locker room.

“The business of basketball, it takes a toll,” Jackson Jr. began. “I think I’ve told (Ja Morant) too, like, I think we’ve seen it all. We’ve seen so many different things, but that’s my brother. I’m always feeling for him. It is just a tough thing.”

“(Morant) is still showing up to the games, he’s still around. You can understand the mood with something like (the trade rumors). Especially with someone like him, who is just viral for freaking anything. It’s just intense. I’ve always said, like, we’ve all grown up in the public eye, but it’s just intense,” the former Defensive Player of the Year added. “Again, I feel for him. That’s my brother. That side of the game plays out like it plays out. No matter what, he changed my life coming here.”

Those words are not neutral. They are a quiet rebuke to the way Morant’s name has become trade-fodder theater for the entire league. Executives may see cap sheets and asset portfolios. Jackson Jr. sees a teammate who helped define his career and a locker room that was built around Morant’s charisma, fearlessness, and gravitational pull.

Jackson Jr.’s comments function like a grenade lobbed into an “intense” trade conversation. They force everyone from the front office to the fan base, and even rival teams circling for leverage, to reckon with the human cost of pulling the trigger. Morant is a mixed bag on and off the court, an acquired taste, of that there is no doubt.

This is not just about whether Morant can be moved for the right combination of draft picks and young players. It is about what happens to a culture when its emotional core is placed on the auction block.

“It’s a challenging thing every single time,” Jackson Jr. admitted. “You don’t get used to it. It’s dependant on what the move is and who the person is. How long they were here, how long you’ve been here, and what memories you had. It’s just like if you were working anywhere or with some people in school and changed schools, cubicles, office buildings, something like that…It’s never going to feel good.”

Perhaps the most poignant moment came when Jackson Jr. performed Morant’s signature grenade-throwing celebration after hitting a three-pointer to open the game, just hours after the trade rumors reached a fever pitch. With the banged-up All-Star watching from the sidelines, the gesture served as both a tribute and a statement of solidarity.

“I did it because he does it. It’s fire,” Jackson Jr. smiled. “I told him I did it with the wrong hand. I should have gone with my right hand.”

In a league obsessed with optics, that was not an accident. It was a message.

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