Ja Morant tries in vain to avoid being filmed in a brutal loss to the Thunder.

It was a bitter end to the season for Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. After falling to eighth in the standings and fighting to come out of the play-in, their season effectively ended on Thursday night when they lost Game 3 to the Thunder and went down 3-0 in the series.

With Ja Morant watching from the sidelines, he tried in vain to avoid the cameras as they captured his final moments on the court this season.

The moment came toward the end of Saturday’s Game 3 showdown at the FedEx Forum. Down 3-0, the Grizzlies knew how this series would end, and it must have been tough for No. 12 to have to sit and watch the undoing of his team, but he is still in recovery after a contact injury with Lu Dort.

After working hard to make a playoff run this year, this was no doubt a very sensitive moment for Ja, and there were plenty of reasons for him to be upset.

They fired their head coach, Taylor Jenkins, to save their season, only to get swept by an inexperienced Thunder team. It’s the third straight year that has ended in failure for the Grizzlies.

Going through all of those emotions, it makes sense that Ja wanted to avoid the spotlight and the prying eyes of the fans. His season is over now, and he no longer has an obligation to play nice with the media.

Of course, Morant also blocked the cameras to avoid racking up any more fines. This season, Ja has been fined and warned multiple times for making obscene and inappropriate gestures on the court. He was caught making shooting celebrations at several points throughout the season and has had to pay a lot of money in penalties.

With nothing left to play for this season, why would Ja risk saying something that he’ll have to pay for? At this stage of the season, the best course of action is to comply with the NBA standards and avoid drawing attention until their final exit interviews.

Ja, 25, was drafted second overall by the Grizzlies in 2019. He won Rookie of the Year in his debut campaign and made his first All-Star team in 2022 with averages of 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game on 49.3% shooting.

Morant was ascending into stardom on the Grizzlies until a series of scandals rocked his career and destroyed his reputation.

Even during the peak of their run, the Grizzlies were massively disliked on account of their unearned confidence and brazen disrespect of their fellow competitors.

The worst of it came in the summer of 2023, when Ja was accused of making threats and committing acts of violence against his enemies.

When Morant accidentally flashed a firearm on his Instagram live (on two separate occasions), the star point guard got suspended for 25 games, and it effectively ruined an entire season for the Grizzlies.

Today, Morant has shown some growth since that infamous video, but it’s clear that he still has a long way to go both on and off the court. For now, Morant has nothing left to say this season, and all he can do is keep his head down as he prepares for a grueling offseason.