It didn’t take Ja Morant long to make his first basket in 235 days. After missing the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season due to a suspension, the Memphis Grizzlies superstar fought away an offensive rebound and finished a reverse layup early in the first quarter of Tuesday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Morant last played for the Grizzlies in Game 6 of their first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last season. Since then, it’s been a bumpy road for both player and franchise, with another gun flashing on social media leading Morant’s career-changing suspension and Memphis being plagued by injuries to key contributors.

Brandon Clarke and Steven Adams’ absences contributed to the Grizzlies’ heartbreaking playoff loss to the Lakers, and neither frontcourt mainstay will play in 2023-24. Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard have also lost considerable amounts of time.

Ja Morant makes his long-awaited comeback to the ailing Memphis Grizzlies.

Memphis opened Tuesday’s action with a 6-19 record, tied for second-worst in the Western Conference with the rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers. While the challenges of young players like Zaire Williams, David Roddy, and Jake LaRavia to fill the void left by their unavailable teammates have hampered Taylor Jenkins’ club in the early going, Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. continue to solidify their status as franchise stalwarts.

Bane has succeeded offensively despite an awful supporting cast and overall environment on that side of the ball after being thrust into a key scoring and playmaking role for the first time in his career. He’s averaging 24.6 points and 5.2 assists per game, both career highs, and he’s shooting at 58.6 percent. According to Cleaning the Glass, with Bane on the floor, the Grizzlies’ league-worst offensive rating improves by +6.5 points.

Jackson hasn’t been as effective offensively as Bane, nor has he achieved the Defensive Player of the Year level that he did in 2022-23. He exploded for 85 points in two games last week, demonstrating Jackson’s growing ease with the ball. Expect him to be more efficient and disruptive defensively now that Morant’s comeback has pushed Jackson down the offensive pecking order in Memphis.

In a strong Western Conference, the Grizzlies have a hard road merely to regain play-in tournament contention. They are currently seven and a half games behind the 10th-place Phoenix Suns in the standings, with the all-in Golden State Warriors standing between them.

Despite exceptional opponent 3-point shooting, Memphis has stayed solid defensively, and Morant’s presence will make things significantly easier for not just Bane and Jackson offensively, but everyone of his teammates. Morant taking personal responsibility for his team’s poor start is another hint that it’s still too early to write off the Grizzles completely when he returns to the court.

“Yes, there is definitely some guilt in that,” Morant said when asked if he felt guilty for Memphis’ win-loss record on Friday. “Obviously, I’m not on the court, and obviously, no one enjoys losing.” Our task is to go out there and win. Even though I am not on the floor, I accept full responsibility for it. The judgments I made prevented me from going to combat with my troops.”