Getting the best version of Ja Morant is the product of alchemy, not chemistry.

Basketball players, like other human beings, are complex, and maybe Morant more than most. There’s no precise formula to get the best version of Morant on the floor with mood, health, on-court approach and on-court outcomes all interrelated.

At Minnesota in January, Morant hit maybe his biggest shot of the year, an improbable game-winner over multiple-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, and seemed more relieved than excited. He sat slumped in the visiting locker room afterward citing exhaustion and politely declining to talk much about the game.

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At Dallas this past Friday, Morant missed nine straight shots in the first half, this following a home-court loss to Oklahoma City after which Morant wondered if he should even have been playing, which itself had followed consecutive absences with shoulder soreness.

Down in Texas, Morant shook it all off, the misses, the soreness and all the rest, with a huge second half for a national TV win, which he followed with an engaging, grounded locker-room breakdown talking about overcoming the soreness — and getting past his season-long displays of aggrievement at NBA officials — through the power of positive thinking. 

Morant also hinted in his walk-off ESPN interview Friday night he had gotten a little help, presumably medical help, with the shoulder soreness, but he shouldn’t talk about that on TV even though he was doing just that.

I asked Morant about this two nights later in New Orleans, and he declined to elaborate.

“You can just take the same answer off TV,” Morant said. “I don’t think I should talk about it in the media, but I do have some help. I think that’s what I said.”

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Morant hasn’t played more than five straight games in two years but just played three in four nights — all close wins in games without costar Jaren Jackson Jr., all games in which Morant played exceedingly well and in-particular came up big in the closing stretches. 

It feels like a corner turned, but if this season has taught us anything, there could always be other corners lurking ahead. 

You could divide Morant’s season into three sections. 

At the outset, Morant’s scoring was significantly down, but that obscured how well he was playing. The Grizzlies were playing their three stars (Morant, Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane) low minutes to open the season (that’s since changed), and Morant was returning to a team where Jackson had emerged as another go-to scorer. 

Through his first eight games this season, Morant was averaging only 21 points per game, but his assists were up — nine per game even in lower minutes — and his defensive effort and focus was at a new high. Morant was playing with great balance, of offense and defense, of scoring and playmaking, and the Grizzlies were beating opponents by 13.9 points per 100 possessions with Morant on the floor, a career high.

Box score: Grizzlies 120, Suns 118

Then the new injuries came. Morant was undercut on an attempted alley-oop finish against the Lakers in November, falling hard on his hip and missing eight games. He took a hard screen to his surgically repaired right shoulder in late December, missing five games. Morant did not benefit from the official’s whistle on either of these plays, literally, in Morant’s mind, adding insult to injury. 

Between the hard fall against the Lakers and Friday’s was-it-a-breakthrough? in Dallas, Morant played 30 games broken up by 10 (!) separate absences. The team continued to win, and overall Morant remained productive. But his play, like his availability, was more erratic. That high early assist rate fell off, as did his already declining shooting. The Grizzlies were still winning Morant’s minutes but by a more modest 5.8 points per 100 possessions. 

The three games Morant played in four days? 

At Dallas on Friday, at New Orleans on Sunday and back at home against Phoenix on Monday, the Grizzlies went 3-0, albeit against lackluster competition, winning the three games by a combined 16 points, but they won Morant’s minutes by 42 points or +18.8 points per 100 possessions. 

Morant averaged 31 points and nine assists and came through as a closer all three nights.

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Anecdotally, I thought Morant in recent weeks had been settling too easily for 3-pointers and had also been forcing too much to the rim where he wasn’t getting all the calls he thought he deserved and where his sore shoulder was taking more hits. 

It seemed like Morant needed to get back to his floater, to use his dribble and feel to get into open spaces of the defense and make plays there, not settling for 3s or seeking contact quite as much but working more in between.

Anecdotally, that’s what recent games have looked like, and there are numbers that back that up.

On the season, per NBA.com, Morant has taken 31% of his field-goal attempts in the restricted area, 30% in the paint but outside the restricted area (the “floater range”), 8% from mid-range and 31% from 3-point range. 

During this three-game extended weekend, Morant took 22% of his shots in the restricted area, 32% in the floater range, 17% in the mid-range and 29% from 3.

Box score: Grizzlies 107, Pelicans 104

Essentially, he shaved about 11% of his attempts from the rim and the 3-point line and moved them to the middle of the floor. Morant converted those floaters and mid-range shots at a very high rate the past few games. There’s no guarantee that will continue. And generally speaking, shots at the rim and from 3 are more valued. 

But we’re not speaking generally.

Morant’s not a good 3-point shooter and has been worse this year while navigating soreness in his shooting shoulder. He could probably stand to pass up the 3-pointer a little bit more, but don’t try telling him that. 

In Dallas, Morant made only one of five long-range attempts. The five was a low number in the context of his 29 attempts that game. Was that strategic?

“If they backed up and gave me more I would have shot ’em,” Morant said after the game.

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“I would have shot 10 of them b------ or 100, whatever it is,” he said then stopped to laugh at his mild profanity. “I’m sorry, but yeah, I mean that ain’t gonna change. Somebody wants me to stop shooting, tell them to be the GM or the coach.”

That one he did hit? It iced the game. 

“I’ve missed plenty of shots in my basketball career. I’m not the first one to miss shots,” Morant said. “You see what happened. How I ended the game? I hit a 3. That should show the confidence right there.”

That was against a Dallas team now heading nowhere, though the players they put on the floor Friday night went all out. 

Playoff-level defenses will invite Morant to shoot well more than 10 of them … ahem. How eagerly will he accept the invitation?

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While 3-pointers are generally valued, the math on Morant attempts has been less enticing, and while his rim attacks can be thrilling, they also exacerbate his current banged-up status. Morant’s handle and feel are elite. When it comes to getting into the creases of a defense and picking it apart as both a scorer and a passer, few are on Morant’s level. 

Does Morant find a better rhythm when he plays this way or does he play this way when he’s in a better rhythm? Either way, this is the Morant that controls a game. It’s been great to see. Let’s hope Morant did turn a corner in Dallas and the path forward is now a straighter one.