Zion Williamson drops truth bomb on Ja Morant's return to Grizzlies

After 235 days of dormancy, superstar Ja Morant made his triumphant return to the NBA hardwood Tuesday evening as the Memphis Grizzlies squared off against the New Orleans Pelicans on the road at Smoothie King Center.

A truly mesmerizing affair that saw the guard drop the most points during a return game after missing 25+ contests in league history with 34, Taylor Jenkins' squad fought from start to finish and, despite trailing by 19 heading into halftime, remained resilient throughout, ultimately pulling out an epic 115-113 win.

In the end, Morant proved to be the main driving force in Memphis' come-from-behind triumph, especially considering he single-handedly was responsible for 39 of the club's 74 second-half points.

Following the outing, seemingly depleted Pelicans star Zion Williamson addressed the media during a press conference, answering the regular questions regarding what went wrong and what the team needs to improve moving forward with short and rather blunt retorts.

However, when asked what he believed was the "source" to their ultimate demise, the big man extrapolated on his thoughts, particularly highlighting the impact Morant has on the Grizzlies as a major catalyst in this regard.

Zion Williamson dishes on impact Ja Morant has on Memphis Grizzlies

"Ja was able to get downhill a lot. Him doing that opened up the game for the rest of them [in the second half]."

- Zion Williamson on Ja Morant

As was on full display during his nearly 35 minutes of action, and has been throughout his five-year tenure in the 38103, Morant's driving abilities are not only an effective way for him to buy a bucket but also something defenses seemingly draw extra attention to in an effort to halt his mobility which, often, results in clean looks for his teammates on kick-out passes and overall open scoring looks, an attribute they severely struggled to come by during their initial 25 games of 2023-24.

In the end, it was his "downhill" style of play that served as a focal point in the night's wild comeback for the Grizzlies as well as the ultimate deciding factor, as he managed to cap off a story book return with a fairytale finish on a driving floater over Herbert Jones at the final buzzer.

Williamson noted postgame that Memphis' 24-year-old centerpiece "was able to do whatever he wanted" on the night, and, according to Morant himself, the reason for this is quite simple for, in his words, he's a "dog."