Ja Morant is one of the NBA's most marketable players due to his playing style, which has a highlight package that rivals the best of them. However, his time on the basketball court has been marred by injuries that have affected his availability on the basketball court during the most important time of the season.
He has ended the season out with an injury three of the last four seasons, so it is fair to assume that most pundits have the Grizzlies taking a step back due to that. However, the data suggests that the team doesn't necessarily need him to play nearly every regular-season game, but just enough where he is healthy when it matters the most.
65 is the magic number
Ja Morant played 67 out of a possible 73 regular-season games during his rookie year in 2019-20 and 63 out of a possible 72 regular-season games in 2020-21. Those two Covid-19 shortened seasons represent the highest number of games Morant has played in a single season throughout his six-year career. In what was considered rebuilding years for Memphis, they made play-in tournament appearances and a playoff appearance during those seasons.
In the NBA's full 82-game slate, he has missed an average of nearly 30 games per season due to injuries, with his highest number of games played being 61 in the 2022-23 season (suspended for 8 additional games). With the NBA's new rule implementation requiring players to play at least 65 games to be considered for postseason awards, that is the number fans would like Morant to get to.
The Grizzlies are obviously a better team with him on the court, as evidenced by their fall off to the draft lottery two seasons ago when he only played nine games. They had a modest 18-14 record in the 32 games he missed last season, but they traded away their best perimeter scorer in Desmond Bane this offseason.
Morant only playing 50 games again, like he did last season, likely wouldn't be as kind to the Grizzlies roster this season, which is built to support him more than survive without him. This team is a far cry from the squad that produced a 20-5 record without him during the 2021-22 season. Memphis needs Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. to both be available and play at their All-Star levels collectively to have any chance at competing in the Western Conference.