This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Watching Ja Morant play basketball is such a treat.
I don't mean a treat in a "Wow, look at this guy. He's incredible" sort of way, though he is an incredible player when he's healthy. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today.
This dude is just hilarious. And what makes it funnier is that he's very clearly not intentionally being hilarious. It's just who he is. Or, really, it's what he does.
Case in point: Thursday night's Grizzlies game against the Heat. This was the quintessential Ja Morant game. It was a 30-point showstopping performance. He dazzled in the pick and roll. He got to the rim and hit some tough layups. The jumper was working well.
The jumper was working so well, in fact, that the man felt compelled to pull out the finger gun-pointing 3-point celebration that the NBA had quite literally just issued him a warning about mere hours before the game for a similar gesture the game before.
I mean, the audacity to pull this out. On one hand, I respect it. On the other hand, Ja, you're nuts!
Ja Morant brought out the finger gun gesture after making this three during Grizzlies-Heat.
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 4, 2025
Earlier today, the NBA gave Morant and Warriors guard Buddy Hield a warning about doing this celebration.pic.twitter.com/CFoiu8wDDzhttps://t.co/qg2KIVS9dN
And that was in the first quarter! Talk about starting off with a bang. Get it? A bang? Yeah, I won't quit my day job.
Before I could pick my jaw up off the floor four quarters later, the man hits a game-winning jumper that touches every part of the rim before it bounces in.
That's Ja Morant, man. You never really know what you're going to get with him. One day, it might be a 5-of-15 performance where he also just dunks on someone's head. The next day, he might shoot 7-of-7 from 3-point range and pull out all the finger guns. Here, he deliberately chooses to pull out the controversial ...
