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Ja Morant quickly made a name for himself in the NBA with the help of the monster dunks that helped make him a human highlight reel. Unfortunately, it sounds like we’ve reached the end of an era based on his new stance on those high-flying plays.
Joe Fortenberry is widely credited with being the first person to dunk in a basketball game after he pulled out the revolutionary move at Madison Square Garden in 1936, and plenty of other players added the emphatic and high-percentage shot to their arsenal in the decades that followed.
Slam dunks were actually banned at the college level between 1967 and 1976 thanks in no small part to the dominance of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The NBA declined to follow suit, but it did dissuade players from throwing down with too much force by levying a technical foul against anyone who shattered the backboard before the introduction of breakaway rims made the rule obsolete.
In 1984, the league opted to capitalize on the appeal of that particular move when the Slam Dunk Contest was permanently added to All-Star Weekend, and there aren’t many plays capable of making an arena erupt quite like seeing a defender getting put on a poster after ending up on the receiving end of a jam.
Plenty of guys have befallen that particular fate courtesy of Ja Morant, who possesses an impressive ability to fly above the rim and finish with authority.
Unfortunately, it sounds like he’s reconsidering his approach to the game after returning from the injury he suffered while trying to finish an alley-oop against the Lakers in November.
According to ESPN, Morant revealed he’s placing less emphasis on one of the most entertaining aspects of his repertoire after the Grizzlies fell to the Mavericks on Tuesday, saying:
“I’m not trying to dunk at all. Y’all think I’m lying. I’m dead serious.
Sometimes I get knocked out the air and [a foul] don’t get called, and now I’m out longer than what I’m supposed to be. Sometimes the foul might get called; I still hit the floor, but after the game you might feel that little fall.
So I just pick and choose, man. Hey, two points is two points. I get it done. That’s all that matters.”
As the outlet notes, the 25-year-old who is in the midst of the sixth season of an NBA career that was already marred by a lengthy suspension has only dunked three times in the 12 games he’s placed since returning from his aforementioned injury.
This development surfaces as the NBA continues to grapple with concerns about its product on the court thanks in no small part to analytics-driven strategies that have prioritized three-pointers (especially from the corner) over buckets in the paint.
In November, Tom Haberstroh highlighted a play where Morant pulled up from behind the arc instead of throwing down in an article concerning Nick Wright’s proposal to make dunks worth three points, and the guard’s “two points is two points” mentality highlights the potential of an intriguing proposal that is probably still a bit of a pipe dream.