Ja Morant back in the spotlight for extracorporeal reasons.
Morant, who missed his third straight game with a calf strain, confronted Thompson after the final whistle, apparently saying, “You're a bum now.”
He also trashed his teammate Cam Spencer's post-game interview.
“Tell him who was the best shooter in the house,” Morant said. “It wasn’t the Golden State brother.”
Later in the locker room, Thompson responded to Morant, saying there was “nothing intelligent or deep” in his comments.
“It was really just lip service, and he’s been saying that for a long time,” Thompson said. via ESPN. “It’s fun to chat when you’re on the bench. It's the kind of story of his career that leaves us wanting more.”
Morant has played in just 12 of the Grizzlies' 17 games this season due to injuries and a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.
He was previously suspended twice in 2023 for weapons incidents. Those two events cost him 33 games and about $8.3 million in salary.
“We all want to see him out there and do his best, but he just lets a lot of other things get in the way of that. We need this in the NBA. We need our best players to be there and when you're a star it comes with a lot of responsibility. I hate to see it go to waste,” Thompson said.
Thompson, who struggled on the bench, scored a season-high 22 points off the bench and had a season-best six 3-pointers for the Mavericks, who have split back-to-back home games and have yet to win a back-to-back game this season.
Early in the fourth quarter, Thompson and Grizzlies guard Vince Williams exchanged words that resulted in technical fouls on both sides.
Thompson also approached Santi Aldama after he tripped Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, resulting in a flagrant foul on the Grizzlies forward.
The Mavericks and Grizzlies won't meet again until February 27th.
–with files from The Associated Press
