Ja Morant has been an eye candy for Memphis Grizzlies fans. He has managed to keep fans occupied with his workout videos, shot-making practices, and even off-the-court generous gestures. Even in a busy trade market, where rumors have flooded the NBA scene, Ja Morant has found a way to get in the news for a very noble act, but not related to the ball game. After the generosity showed, came the words that snapped Skip Bayless and he targeted the young star for it. The Memphis Grizzlies guard called himself “Black Jesus,” which Skip Bayless is not buying and thinks Ja is full of himself.
The Footage of Morant in a restaurant hit the internet, and it went viral in no time. In Video he referred to himself as “Black Jesus.” – The reference came when Ja Morant responded to the Waitress after tipping her $500. It might be a very rude or self-centered statement to make. Many people seemed baffled by his statement. On “Undisputed: Skip and Shannon,” the topic was raised and Skip reaps apart Ja Morant for the obnoxious claim.
Skip Bayless shows mirror to Ja Morant after “Black Jesus” claims
Black Jesus – the name famously given to GOAT Michael Jordan, and importantly it was not self-proclaimed but given to him by another NBA Great. Celtics Legend Larry Bird mentioned it the first time when he stunned the Boston Celtics team with 63 point explosion. The word just spread like fire and stay connected with MJ for the rest of his career. Well, Jordan did make similar performances in the future also, and the whole NBA later used to refer to him by that signature name.
On “Undisputed: Skip and Shannon” Bayless said, “I didn’t love it, either, but I don’t love anything like that. If Larry Bird wants to say of Michael Jordan, after he scored 63 points, ‘That was God disguised as Michael Jordan,’ I’m cool with that.”
Thrashing Ja Morant on his hot claims, the 70-years-old analyst added, “But, Ja, I’m trying so hard to love you, and you won’t quite let me because you get fuller and fuller of yourself before you’ve proven anything.”
Skip Bayless is known to be one of the critics of former Rookie of the year, generally not of his game but his off-court behaviors. Skip used the recent even to add to his list of “classic Ja Morant Statements” and we might see him using the same against Ja in the future also. After discussing how Morant missed a significant number of games in the regular season and playoffs, Bayless added, “Just for the record, without ‘Black Jesus’ during the regular season, at one point they were 21-6 without him.”
Skip Bayless pointed out that Memphis Grizzlies are making additions at the guard position, and also made a huge claim that the franchise is not trusting Ja Morant anymore. But in reality, Memphis extended the All-Star guard contract to a five-year designated rookie deal of $193 million that could go up to $231 million. The contract will kick in for the 2023-24 season.
There are no questions about Ja Morant’s status in Memphis. In three years, Morant has taken the Grizzlies to two playoff appearances but failed to make it to the conference finals. Interestingly though they showed improvement in every season.
In 2021, they lost to the Utah Jazz in the first round after defeating the Golden State Warriors in the inaugural play-in tournament. While in recent playoffs, they did make it to the second round, only till Golden State Warriors managed to get better of Morant-less Grizzlies in 6 games.
The 22-year-old made saw a breakout 2022 season. He made his first All-Star appearance and won the 2021-22 Most Improved Player award making the All-NBA second team. All these accolades at such young age are certainly praise-worthy, but “black Jesus” claims? May be too early.
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