Ja Morant made his return to the NBA in style, and his mom couldn’t be more happy about it.
After the two-time All-Star dropped 34 points — including the game-winning shot at the buzzer — in his return to the Grizzlies after a 25-game suspension, Morant shared a text exchange he appeared to have with his mom, Jamie, before and after the game.
In the first message, she gave her son a few words of encouragement — and some basketball tips — before his matchup with the Pelicans at Smoothie King Center.
“Its ‘The Return’ play your game. Let the game come tonight you!!” she wrote in the first text. “Don’t force nothing!!!You got this and will come out with a W Love you and Beneath NoOne!!
When she asked if he was ready for the game, Morant responded: “I’m [you’re] son. You know the answer.”
Morant didn’t look any worse for the wear on the court after not playing in a game since late April, hitting 50 percent of his shots while adding eight assists and six rebounds, rallying Memphis from 24 points down to knock off the Pelicans on the road.
After the show, she was plenty excited for her son.
“Yessir!! !! !!” she wrote in one text. “Never doubted you.”
“Tell em IM COMING ma love you,” Morant responded back.
After the game, the Grizzlies star said it was a long time coming and that he was putting in extra work after he was hit with the ban in June for brandishing a firearm on an Instagram Live.
“I’ve been putting work in, man,” Morant said in a postgame interview on TNT. “I ain’t play a game in eight months. Had a lot of time to learn myself. A lot of hard days where I went through it.
“But you know, basketball is my life, what I love, therapeutic for me. And I’m just excited to be back.”
He also gave his mom a special shoutout to close out his interview.
“Hey, happy birthday, Mom, I’m on the way home,” he said.
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