“Nah that ugly” — Ja Morant bluntly describes lookalike statue in New York City
Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant wasn't too happy with how a statue of him turned out. In a video making the rounds on social media on Saturday, Morant walks onto a court and approaches a not-to-scale statue of himself. As he walks around to the front, he then shares his candid reaction, calling the statue ugly.
This, of course, isn't the first time we've seen an athlete puzzled by a statue of themselves. While famous athletes such as Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, for example, have incredibly lifelike statues out in the world, other athletes have been immortalized with some questionable statues.
For example, Cristiano Ronaldo's statue at Madeira Airport famously looks very little like the Portuguese footballer. The same goes for tennis legend Andy Murray, whose statue looks more like Milos Raonic.
While a well-done statue can be a great way for a city to pay tribute to an athlete, a bad statue can become the laughingstock of the internet. Morant's statue might fall into the latter category.
A video of the high-flying guard seeing his statue for the first time was uploaded to X, formerly known as Twitter, as seen below:
Looking at Ja Morant's offseason as two-time All-Star looks to return to the court
Ja Morant missed the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season as part of an NBA-issued suspension for brandishing a firearm on Instagram Live after he and the Grizzlies were eliminated from the 2022-23 NBA playoffs.
Once Morant returned to action, he played in just nine games before suffering a torn labrum in practice that forced him to undergo surgery. Given that, and injuries to Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart, the 2023-24 season was one to forget for the Grizzlies.
Speaking to media members in Memphis back in January, Morant opened up on his return, as relayed by CBS Sports:
"I hate being around basketball and not being able to play, man. I don't got too much longer. I can wait to make sure I'm able to play and be cleared when the season comes."
Just weeks after his comments, Morant revealed on social media that he's ready to go for the 2024-25 season. It sounds like he's eager to make up for lost time.
With Morant seemingly being cleared to go, he will now have plenty of time to ramp up in practice ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season. Given his absence from the court for most of last season, it will be interesting to see how a healthy Grizzlies team can shake up the Western Conference.