Memphis Grizzlies schedule: Ja Morant, post-suspension, still NBA star

The NBA sent a message to Ja Morant this week. 

Don’t let those negative headlines and internet trolls fool you.

Don’t let them convince you these Memphis Grizzlies are being shelved from the national spotlight after some embarrassing bouts of immaturity last season.

Don’t let anybody think the NBA is done marketing Morant as one of the league’s great stars moving forward.

Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA area still very much in the Morant business. They're just going to wait 25 games to start it up again.

That much we gleaned from the release of the Grizzlies’ 2023-24 schedule, and the manner in which it’s structured from a national television perspective.

No, the Grizzlies did not set another franchise record for appearances on ABC, ESPN or TNT like they did a year ago, before all of Morant’s off-court issues became public and he couldn’t resist flashing a gun on Instagram Live – twice. 

But they’ll still be on national television 13 times – more than any season in franchise history besides last year – and 12 of those instances occur after Morant can potentially return from the 25-game suspension he must serve at the start of this season. Including, perhaps, the very first game in which Morant could be eligible to play again.

The Grizzlies’ 26th game of the season, at the New Orleans Pelicans, will be broadcast on TNT. Maybe Memphis will ease Morant back on the court like it did when he came back from his initial suspension last March, stemming from the first Instagram Live gun incident inside a Denver area strip club. 

In that case, though Morant was back with the team by a certain game, he didn’t play again until the second game in which he was officially available. In this case, the same circumstances could apply or the open-ended language of the NBA’s suspension could come into play. When doling out Morant’s sanctions, Silver was careful to mention that Morant must ultimately be reinstated and reinstatement isn’t necessarily automatic after 25 games.

Nonetheless, the mere possibility that Morant’s first game is nationally televised is yet more proof that while the perception of Morant after all these missteps may have hurt his standing as a corporate pitchman beyond his Nike deal, his perception within NBA circles remains valuable. 

The NBA is betting fans still want to watch Morant and the Grizzlies, no matter how much they cringed at their behavior over the past year.

Expectations may not be quite the same as a year ago, when Memphis was coming off its first playoff series win with Morant. But the way Morant plays – the way he has consistently won in the regular season with the Grizzlies – is not worth hiding away for nobody to see.

Memphis will still be on either ABC, ESPN or TNT more this season than feel-good stories like Sacramento, Cleveland and Oklahoma City. It’ll be on more than the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio’s No. 1 pick, Victor Wembanyama. It'll get a Thanksgiving weekend matchup with Phoenix and a marquee MLK Day game against Golden State.        

It's true the Grizzlies weren’t included in the NBA’s Christmas day festivities or rivals week this year, each of which are probably a ramification of how tumultuous last season became. But rivals week was a gimmick made up by the NBA last year. Only being left out of the NBA's marquee Christmas games really hurts, and it sure seems like the Grizzlies will be back there eventually, once Morant proves his life in order.

So if the stern tone adopted by Silver had you believing Memphis was back to being an NBA sideshow, think again. 

It’ll never be that way while Morant is here. The way he plays is too irresistible, regardless of his antics away from the court. This whole ordeal, so long as Morant can stay out of trouble moving forward, has only reinforced how popular the NBA believes he is – and can still be. 

Only a star could generate the sort of breathless coverage Morant has while dealing with his various issues. Only a star could simultaneously deliver this much exposure for the Grizzlies. Only a star returns on national television.