There was a brief moment in time when Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant was in the conversation for future face of the NBA. After bum-rushing the NBA as the No. 2 overall pick in 2019, Morant quickly became a fan favorite, his Grizzlies were considered rising championship contenders and the lanky and athletic bucket-getter out of Murray State could pack most arenas.
Ja Morant Can No Longer Sell Out Arenas: Fan Heckles Him
His Dad, Tee Morant’s charismatic presence on the sidelines was tolerable because his son was becoming a human highlight film. Fast forward to Dec. 28, 2025, and an estimated 16,681 fans attended the Washington Wizards’ matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 28, nearly 4,000 seats short of the Capital One Arena’s full capacity. How times have changed for Morant, who is averaging just 17.6 points per game and shooting just 22 percent from three and 37.4 percent from the field.
You could hear a pin drop in that arena, which led to another episode that has become all too common. Ja Morant should be happy he’s still considered good enough to get heckled and one fan took the opportunity to do so. The fan said it very loudly so everyone could hear it.
“Ja can’t handle the fans,” he said. “Yeah, buddy, get some buckets first! Get some buckets! You got your coach fired to be a play-in team!”
Tee Morant Confronts Fan Who Heckled His Son, Ja Morant
Tee Morant, Ja’s father, has a long history of stirring things up when he’s at the arena, dating back to a confrontation with Shannon Sharpe.
He heard everything and did not appreciate it. Instead of ignoring it, Morant felt the need to approach the fan and confronted him until security got in the way, calmed him down and led him back to his courtside seat.
The fan wasn’t too happy about it and put Tee on blast on X.
“Lmao Tee Morant a drunk idiot… run up on me at a basketball game for trash talking your son, who’s an adult and talking back, if you want to”
The video doesn’t capture the full confrontation between the two, but reports say, after the fan was done heckling Ja, a calm but irritated Tee approached him. The father first said that the fan had a picture of his son plastered on its wall.
“Hey!” Tee said, pointing his finger at the fan’s phone camera. “You can’t talk from where you at.”
The fan responded: “Your son, he needs to focus on the game, bro. You’re talking to a fan, buddy.
The guy didn’t stop heckling, claiming that it was constructive criticism, and telling Tee that he needed to be more worried about his son showing up in the playoffs than what the fan was saying.
“Your job’s to dad. I respect that, but you don’t gotta come up to me. I’m talking game. He’s talking to me. You’re talking to me,” the fan said. “Yeah. You need to go. Come on, man. You doing the most, buddy. Go sit down, buddy.”
Tee eventually walked away, but the fan continued.
“Morant can’t handle adversity! Just like in the playoffs!” he exclaimed.
Tee Morant Has History Of Defending His Son In The Wrong Way
This incident adds to Tee’s pattern of making headlines by trash-talking players and getting into verbal jousts concerning his son.
Back in January of 2023 during a regular-season game against the Lakers, Dillon Brooks was jawing with LeBron James and Shannon Sharpe, who was sitting courtside. As both teams headed back to their respective tunnels for halftime, all heck broke loose with the Grizzlies bench led by Ja Morant appearing to make their way towards Sharpe.
Morant’s father Tee was moving with them. It became a scuffle with Sharpe and Tee shouting back and forth. They became the story that night and the two later reconciled.
Tee also was criticized by Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, who was tired of his sideline trash-talking.
He had a memorable back and forth with Kevin Durant in November, after Slim Reaper joined the Houston Rockets in a blockbuster trade for Jalen Green.
KD: “Your son don’t wanna be here, we know it’s your last weekend. Enjoy ur time”
Tee Morant: “You don’t know where YOU wanna be at”
Memphis Grizzlies Get Swept In Season Series vs. Washington Wizards
Meanwhile, the lowly Wizards defeated Memphis, 116-112, to win both of their matchups in the 2025-26 season. Morant had a decent, but unimpactful game, scoring 21 points on an efficient 8-of-16 shooting, along with seven assists. However, he was a -22 and committed three turnovers. Hi steam is 15-17 on the season and in the ninth seed out West.
What we do know is that Tee Morant is still talking, but nobody is listening. Getting checked by security and a fan in an empty arena as your son’s team stumbles to another loss against arguably the worst team in basketball isn’t a good look. The combination of Memphis, Ja and Tee Morant seem to have run its course. The franchise has to be asking itself at this point if that 5-year, $197,230,450 contract with a 39.5M cap hit this season, $42M in 2026-27 and then $44.8M in the year before he becomes a free agent is worth it.
