Ja Morant's family is the secret weapon behind his spectacular rookie season with the Grizzlies
Tee Morant asked Ja Morant before he knew where they would end up, before they knew the Memphis Grizzlies were even a possible landing spot.
It was April, not long after Ja declared for the 2019 NBA Draft, and it became clear he’d be among the top picks. It was a conversation any father might have with a child about to start his first job in a new place.
“So 12,” Tee Morant recalled earlier this month, referring to his son's jersey number, “how are we going to work the living arrangements?”
Ja Morant then looked at his father quizzically, as if the answer were obvious.
“Y’all are going to be wherever I’m at,” he said.
“Same house?” Tee Morant responded.
“Yeah,” Ja said back. “I don’t know how to run no house.”
And thus, the secret weapon behind Morant's spectacular rookie season began to take shape.
What’s obvious now, as the Grizzlies return from the All-Star break to resume an unexpected playoff push and Morant resumes his quest to become just the second player in franchise history to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, is he knows how to run a team.
The flashy passes, the absurd dunk attempts, the viral highlights, the transition from mid-major superstar to burgeoning NBA star, it has all gone so smoothly.
But there’s an entire family here in the Memphis area that helped Morant flourish, that played an important behind-the-scenes role in Morant’s rise, that could symbolize why Morant stays in Memphis for years to come.
“Through it all, we’re always together,” Tee Morant said. “When he says family means everything to him, he means it."
This new Memphis family includes Morant’s parents, Tee and Jamie. There’s also Morant’s girlfriend, KK Dixon, and their 6-month-old daughter, Kaari Jaidyn. There’s Morant’s younger sister, Teniya, who is a freshman at Briarcrest Christian School. There’s also an uncle and an aunt here now, too.
They all live together under the same roof in Eads. In addition, Tee Morant’s brother and his brother's family recently purchased their own house and will move to the area by the summer.
Eventually, 10 members of the Morant family will be part of this community. Their collective goal is fairly straightforward.
“Take as much off his plate as possible, so he can just focus on the basketball aspect of it and be a professional,” Tee Morant said. “He’s pretty much just here to do his job, and that’s to play basketball and make the Memphis Grizzlies year-round contenders, and that’s about it.”
So that means Morant’s parents help him take care of Kaari Jaidyn, and help monitor the public appearances and sponsorship obligations Ja takes on. It means the family takes care of everything from paying the bills to cooking meals to chauffeuring Morant to practices and games in a big, black Sprinter van.
“We barely let him drive,” Tee Morant said. “Don’t let him pump gas or anything.”
They’ve essentially recreated the 2.4-acre plot of land Ja Morant grew up on in Dalzell, South Carolina, only in a larger compound in Eads and with no curfew enforced anymore.
“It’s my family. They’ve been here since day one,” Ja Morant said. “I keep them close.”
They’ve also become fixtures at FedExForum, on a first-name basis with ushers and longtime fans alike.
The entire family has season tickets in Section 103 right behind the Grizzlies’ bench. Tee Morant usually moves down a few rows and sits in an empty seat near Grizzlies president Jason Wexler. He dissects the games like the former player who played high school basketball with Ray Allen, or like the coach who trained his son on their backyard court in South Carolina, or like the father who breaks down film of every Grizzlies game with his son back in Eads each night.
During a win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 12, for instance, Tee Morant sat on the edge of his seat, cringing at every near-turnover like a nervous parent and celebrating a good pass out of the pick-and-roll or a nifty floater in traffic like a coach. He barely reacted when Ja slalomed through the entire defense for a basket that brought the rest of the crowd to its feet.
“He sees the game the way Ja does,” Wexler said. “He knows what’s going to happen before it happens.”
That this family dynamic was all prompted by Ja Morant, not the other way around, shouldn’t be ignored while basking in the glorious rookie campaign he’s embarked on. It’s a reflection of how Morant thinks about life outside the basketball court, of how living in the Memphis area is “not a big change,” Tee Morant noted, “because it reminds us of home.”
The fact that Morant’s family is comfortable here would suggest Morant might one day set roots down here, too. That’s no small thing for a small NBA market like Memphis. Morant seems more likely to be happy staying here long term than, say, LeBron James in Cleveland or Anthony Davis in New Orleans or Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.
So when the Grizzlies’ biggest game in years was less than 10 minutes away Feb. 12, Morant left the layup line. He walked toward the bench, toward his sister approaching the court, toward the 6-month-old baby who “already got him wrapped around her finger,” Tee Morant said.
Ja Morant then took Kaari Jaidyn Morant in his arms. He cradled his daughter against his chest and kissed her, as if they were alone amid the flashing cameras and sea of people craning their necks to see.
“She’s my motivation. Each and every day I wake up, I’m waking up to her,” Morant said. “Just reminds me I know what I got to do. Take care of her. Make sure she never wants for anything. Just be a good father.”
Morant’s sister watched all this unfold from a few feet away with Morant’s girlfriend and Morant’s mother. Tee Morant, meanwhile, stopped his conversation in the stands and took in the scene as well.
They were a family getting to savor the greatest moments of Ja Morant's life up close. They were all smiling, all together at FedExForum.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto