Ja Morant doesn’t like the Lakers

Ja Morant doesn’t like the Lakers

In case you thought Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant had any reservations regarding the Los Angeles Lakers, well, he doesn’t. In fact, he was very open about his disdain for the team donning purple and gold after Wednesday’s 131-114 victory.

“I don’t like them,” Morant said. “They knocked me out of the playoffs. And then last year, we had a game and they came in here poppin’ on our home floor when I was in street clothes. I wasn’t tonight.

“I didn’t get to play last year … they were laughing, playing, looking at me, talking. My message was I was in street clothes, this was my first opportunity to play against them.”

Who knows whether this could turn into a legitimate rivalry in the future–rivalries are few and far between. The best one, currently, is likely the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Though the former washed the latter in the first round in last year’s postseason en route to the franchise’s first title since 2007-08.

That said, it is heartwarming to see a player not buddy-buddy it up with a team that knocked him out of the playoffs two seasons ago. Morant is a gamer with a gamer’s mentality–this should be welcomed.

Morant and LeBron James even exchanged a “too little” gesture during the game. Of course, Morant, who scored 20 points with four rebounds and five assists in 24 minutes, exiting the game early with a hamstring injury.

“I think I did the too small to somebody who was too small (Gabe Vincent) and then he came back and did it respectfully,” Morant said about the exchange. “He’s 6’8″, I would’ve expected it. I thought that was a charge. He did it and I don’t back down from nobody, don’t care who you are. My job was to just come back and I got my bucket. Just set the tone for my teammates–they fed off it, and you see the results.”

Morant’s had success against the Lakers in the past, averaging 25.6 pints and 7.0 assists on 46.9/46.2/77.2 shooting splits in 12 regular season games in his career. The Grizzlies, now 5-4 on the season, have won five of their last six regular season meetings against Los Angeles. They won’t have to wait long to play them again, either, as they square off inside Crypto.com Arena on Nov. 13.

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