Constantly putting himself in danger with aerial collisions has made Ja Morant rethink his decision to jump high, dunk over opponents’ heads or make difficult layups.
Beautiful dunks from extremely high jumps, sometimes even “hitting the head” of opponents, are what make Ja Morant a name worth watching in the NBA.
The defender born in 1999 has had countless “highlights” of his life, dunking baskets over the heads of players of similar size to tall centers, old or young.
But all that is now just a memory…
In the match between Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks last Wednesday (December 4), Ja Morant had a quick counterattack by himself, one basket.
The audience stood up, some people opened their phones to record a beautiful video to post on social media. It seemed like there would be a Morant dunk to make it into the highlight, but that did not happen.
The 25-year-old Grizzlies guard simply made a two-handed layup and then rushed back to defend, much to the surprise of the fans. A few fans even booed when Morant did not dunk as usual.
Ja Morant is known for his physical style of play. He has great jumping power and impressive body control in the air, but this also puts Morant in dangerous positions when he is hit.
Sharing about this after the game, Ja Morant said that what he did in the past is in the past: “I’m not going to try to dunk anymore. People think I’m joking but it’s true. I’m very serious about it.”
The reason for Morant’s decision is that he has suffered quite a few injuries related to similar plays. And to prolong his career, and avoid harming himself, Ja will limit dunk situations in the future.
Ja Morant realizes that trying to jump high for dunks or difficult layups can easily lead to injury.
“Many times I jumped high to dunk and got hit in the air and fell dangerously. Sometimes the referee would call a penalty, sometimes he wouldn’t. But whether he did or not, I fell to the floor and got hurt.
There have been times when I’ve fallen and gotten hurt, sometimes seriously. So I had to make a choice. It’s still two points, so I’m better off scoring the points in a safer way ,” Morant explained to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Ja Morant’s high-jumping dunk image will gradually disappear in the future.
Ja Morant has every right to be concerned as he has been regularly injured in mid-air collisions, most recently in a game against the Lakers in November.
Morant collided with center Christian Koloko while jumping high and landed on his hip. This incident alone caused Ja Morant to miss eight games.
Since the start of the season, the Grizzlies star has only played 10 times and has missed 22 games. Over the past five years, Morant has sat out more than 100 games with various injuries including his knees, hips, shoulders and back.
