JA Morant

Morant's first three games in a Trail Blazers jersey were a mixed bag. Portland beat Golden State on October 7 with Morant posting 8 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists in 19.1 minutes, a quiet night that still ended in a win. He was better in the next one, a win over Sacramento on October 13, scoring 14 points with 2 rebounds and 6 assists in 23.2 minutes. The rematch with the Warriors on October 16 didn't go as well: Portland lost, and Morant finished with 19 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 27.3 minutes, his minutes climbing even as the result didn't. Three games in, his playing time is trending up as he gets re-integrated into a new offense.

Morant's last season with Memphis was limited to 20 games, but the numbers were still star-level when he played: 19.5 points, 8.1 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 1.0 steal and 0.3 blocks in 28.4 minutes per night. He shot 41.0 percent from the field, 23.5 percent from three and 89.7 percent from the foul line, with a true shooting mark of 52.1 percent. His usage rate sat at 30.5 percent, a sign Memphis ran its offense through him even in a shortened season, and he also turned the ball over 3.6 times a game. His plus-minus was -2.5, a number worth watching now that he's playing for a different team.

The health question hanging over Morant entering camp was a left elbow issue. He was listed day-to-day with that elbow on September 6, and the designation held until he was cleared on September 28. Since then, he has not appeared on Portland's injury report at all. For a player whose game is built on getting into the paint and absorbing contact, a clean elbow matters, and so far the early-season workload — three games, with his minutes climbing from 19.1 to 27.3 — suggests the team is easing him back in rather than holding him out.

Morant's name has been a recurring thread in Jason Quick's notebooks on the Trail Blazers. An October 11 Northwest Notes column grouped him with Damian Lillard and Williams. A Western Notes piece on October 5 mentioned Morant and Lillard again, alongside the Warriors. Earlier notebooks, from September 28, paired Morant with Lillard, Henderson and the team's arena situation, and a separate Blazers Notes item from the same day put him next to discussion of the arena with Potter and Carlson. None of these notebooks reported a trade or a move — they're roundups, not transactions — but they show how often Morant's name is coming up around Portland this fall.