Ja Morant had a lot to say about the Lakers after Grizzlies win

Ja Morant returned to the court against the Lakers on Wednesday and had plenty of trash talk after helping the Grizzlies to a win.

The Lakers and Grizzlies rivalry in recent years is one defined by neither team being healthy...and Dillon Brooks talking crazy, but he’s no longer part of the equation.

Back in the 2023 playoffs, the Lakers took out a depleted Grizzlies team in the first round of the playoffs and made sure they knew about it, too.

When the two sides met last season in group play of the In-Season Tournament, Memphis was without Ja Morant, Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke, among others, and lost Marcus Smart after he played just nine minutes.

In fact, when Morant took the floor against the Lakers on Wednesday,

It was just the second time he’d played Los Angeles since the 2023 playoffs, a span of 19 months. And the version of the purple and gold he saw was one without Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura.

Fueled by that, Memphis handed the Lakers their fourth loss of their five-game road trip with Morant scoring 20 points in the win. On the court, Morant and LeBron James had a bit of a back-and-forth as the Grizzlies could do little to stop LeBron on the night.

After the game, the spiciness only carried on with Morant. In his postgame scrum, Morant let his feelings on the Lakers be known.

For those who didn’t watch the clip, Morant referenced the last time the Lakers were in Memphis when there was some trash talk. That game is most remembered for an absurd LeBron play and dunk to seal the win.

Then, after the postgame presser, Ja took to Twitter to further talk some trash to the Lakers.

Well, that’s a lot of talk!

Look, if you win the game, you get to talk the talk. Those are the rules. The Lakers didn’t hold back when they beat an injured Grizzlies team over the last season-and-a-half and Memphis shouldn’t hold back after last night.

It’s also clear this little rivalry of sorts isn’t going to simmer down at all. And even better, the two sides have a second game against one another exactly a week from Wednesday in Los Angeles this time.

Memphis likely won’t be healthy again with Desmond Bane’s injury timeline being measured in weeks and not days. Anthony Davis’ injury feels very up in the air as well.

But that hasn’t stopped anyone from talking trash over the last two years and nor should it. It’s certainly made a typically mundane game against the Grizzlies a whole lot more fun to take in over that span, too.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.