The NBA trade deadline often serves as a truth serum for the league. It cuts through the PR spin, the agent posturing, and the social media hype to reveal exactly what a player is worth. For Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies, the silence that followed the 3 PM deadline was deafening. But it was the aftermath—specifically a defiant social media post and a brutal reality check from ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins—that has the basketball world buzzing.

While Ja Morant remains a Memphis Grizzly, the narrative surrounding his stay has shifted from “loyalty” to “liability.” According to Kendrick Perkins, the former face of the league is now teetering on the edge of irrelevance, with a warning that is as graphic as it is terrifying: Ja Morant has “one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.”

The “Blocking Out Noise” Defense

The drama kicked off shortly after the deadline passed. Tee Morant, Ja’s outspoken father and constant courtside presence, took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a photo of his son covering his ears. The message was clear: We are blocking out the haters. We are ignoring the rumors. We are locked in.

It was a classic “us against the world” tactic, designed to frame Ja’s continued tenure in Memphis as a mutual decision to finish what they started. But according to reports and analysts, this post was a victory lap for a race nobody else was running.

Perkins’ Reality Check: “Nobody Wants You”

Kendrick Perkins, never one to mince words, saw the post and immediately dismantled the narrative. On national television, Perkins delivered a sobering assessment of why Ja Morant wasn’t traded. It wasn’t because Memphis refused to let him go; it was because the market for a superstar with his baggage has completely collapsed.

“The report is coming out that nobody wanted to give up significant assets to get Ja Morant,” Perkins explained. “Nor did they want to give up any asset.”

The reality is stark. A few years ago, Ja Morant was widely considered a future MVP and the heir apparent to the league’s marketing throne. Today, teams reportedly wanted the Grizzlies to attach assets just to take his contract off their hands, or they expected to acquire him for “next to nothing.” The phone didn’t ring because the Grizzlies hung up; it didn’t ring because no one was calling with a serious offer.

“Out of the League in Two Years”

The most haunting part of Perkins’ critique was his timeline. He didn’t just question Ja’s trade value; he questioned his professional survival.

“Ja Morant better wake the hell up, because in two years after this contract, he could find himself out of the league,” Perkins warned.

To say a player of Morant’s talent—a Rookie of the Year, an All-Star, an All-NBA performer—could be out of the NBA in his mid-20s sounds ludicrous on paper. But Perkins argues that the combination of off-court controversies, injuries, and a perceived lack of maturity has made him radioactive to franchises trying to build winning cultures.

Perkins pointed out the tragedy of the situation. The Grizzlies were once viewed on the same trajectory as the Oklahoma City Thunder—a young, electric dynasty in the making. Now, the Thunder are fighting for the top seed while Memphis is trying to figure out how to salvage a sunken asset.

A Wake-Up Call or The End?

The phrase “one foot in the grave, the other on a banana peel” implies that one wrong step—one more video, one more incident, one more season of stagnation—could be the end. The NBA is a business, and as Perkins noted, when you are a max-contract player that teams are terrified to trade for, your days are numbered.

Perkins’ message to Ja is simple: The leverage is gone. You are no longer the golden child who can dictate terms. You are a distressed asset fighting for your basketball life.

“If this is not a wake-up call for Ja, I don’t know what else is going to open his eyes,” Perkins said.

For Memphis, the “blocking out the noise” strategy might make for good social media content, but it ignores the burning building around them. The Grizzlies clearly wanted to turn the page, and the fact that they couldn’t speaks volumes. Ja Morant is still in Memphis not by exclusive design, but by lack of options. And unless something changes drastically, the next time his contract is up, the silence from the rest of the league might be permanent.