Ja Morant is one of the most electric dunkers in the game. Unfortunately for all of us, the Grizzlies star is planning on doing way less of it in the future.
"I'm not trying to dunk at all," Morant recently told ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "Y'all think I'm lying. I'm dead serious."
The fact that Morant isn't going to dunk as much is certainly disappointing. However, it probably makes sense given his reasoning.
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Why is Ja Morant not dunking anymore?
Morant is still physically able to dunk. He's reached back and thrown down a handful of awesome ones this season.
But more often than not these days, he's laying it up. Even on uncontested fast breaks, he's settling for gently dropping the ball into the basket rather than a rim-rattling crowd-pleaser. The main reason for that is injury prevention.
"Sometimes I get knocked out the air and [a foul] don't get called, and now I'm out longer than what I'm supposed to be," Morant told MacMahon. "Sometimes the foul might get called; I still hit the floor, but after the game, you might feel that little fall. So I just pick and choose, man. Hey, two points is two points. I get it done. That's all that matters."
Morant has never played in more than 67 games in a season. He has had some nasty injuries from mid-air falls, including this year when he missed eight games after hurting his hip on an alley-oop attempt.
Protecting himself does make sense. The numbers back up that he's not trying to dunk it nearly as much this year.
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Ja Morant is just as effective without the dunks
We would all love to see Morant dunking, but the Grizzlies need him on the court more than they need YouTube views. After 22 games, their 14-8 record is tied for the third-best in the Western Conference. They're an even better 8-4 when Morant plays.
Morant's game isn't declining due to fewer dunks either. His scoring is a bit down this year — he's averaging 22.0 points, which is lower than the 26.8 he averaged during his two All-Star campaigns — but that is mostly a result of a reduced minutes load. His per-minute scoring is right in line with those peak years.
The biggest worry stemming from Morant not dunking as much would be that he's not trying to get to the rim as much or that he's converting fewer layups than in previous seasons. Neither of those scenarios has played out.
Morant's drives are down (again, mostly a result of fewer minutes), but he's still among the league leaders in that category. He's even shooting just as frequently and with roughly the same accuracy.
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The other worry might be that Morant is getting fouled less often because of his reticence to leap over everyone. That also hasn't borne out. His 9.1 free throw attempts per 36 minutes are 0.1 behind his career-high, set two seasons ago.
Morant is a better offensive player without the dunks than he was with them. He's scoring more efficiently and with roughly the same volume.
He still has amazing touch on his layups and can contort his body in crazy ways to get those shots off. We may not get the dunks anymore, but we do still get to see him have some very fun finishes.
The decision to dunk less may not be one that fans want to hear, but it makes a lot of sense from a health and winning standpoint. And every once in a while, he will forget his rule and still throw a crazy one down.
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