{"id":118311,"date":"2025-01-16T10:03:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=118311"},"modified":"2025-01-16T10:04:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T15:04:46","slug":"ja-wemby-dunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/16\/ja-wemby-dunk\/","title":{"rendered":"Ja Has the Dunk of the Year, But It Didn\u2019t Count"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/moranja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ja Morant<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/26\/ja-morant-dunks\/\" target=\"_self\">said he wasn\u2019t dunking anymore<\/a>. Well, it looks like after he said that, he has been doing some wild dunks. The Memphis Grizzlies star had one of the best dunks of the year so far, but sadly, it didn\u2019t count. With the game virtually over, he rose for a dunk against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wembavi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Wembanyama<\/a>. Sadly, this Ja poster dunk on Wemby didn&#8217;t count.<\/p>\n<h2>Ja Has the Dunk of the Year, But It Didn\u2019t Count<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">JA POSTER ON WEMBY \ud83e\udd2f\ud83e\udd2f\ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n<p>but did not count&#8230; <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5w2zdkJjLp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5w2zdkJjLp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/1879730717845774848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Grizzlies showdown with the Spurs was full of fantastic moments, but the best play didn\u2019t count. Morant rose for a ferocious dunk and poster on Wembanyama with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The refs called a foul on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/castlst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephon Castle<\/a> as he was defending Ja\u2019s drive.\u00a0Despite the whistle, Morant kept charging to the paint, where Victor was standing to protect the rim. After the game, Ja said he didn\u2019t hear the whistle,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI kept going with the play because normally I don\u2019t hear no whistle when I, you know, drive to the rack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some might say that is a subtle joke on refs. Earlier in the season, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/04\/ja-morant-no-dunks\/\" target=\"_self\">Morant said the reason why he is not dunking<\/a> anymore is because guys try to hard foul him on drives, and he risks injury while there are no calls. Speaking about his dunk on Wemby, Ja said,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnother person at the rim. I dunked on plenty of people bro, he doesn\u2019t get no pass either. If you are out at the rim, I am going to try you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"REACTION to Ja Morant dunking on Victor Wembanyama after the whistle: &#039;The highlight still counts!&#039;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SPp__4nGBD0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Wemby Is Not Afraid of Posters<\/h3>\n<p>Wemby is not just a giant, but also an incredible rim protector. Last year, he vowed to win every Defensive Player of the Year Award going forward. He congratulated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rudy Gobert<\/a> on his but said they are all mine from now on. And so far this season, he is backing up his claim.\u00a0But being one of the best <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/04\/wemby-dpoy\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">defensive players<\/a> in the league puts a target on your back. Luckily, Victor is confident and courageous. He is not afraid of being posterized and will try to stop every play, even those that do not count.<\/p>\n<p>Just several days ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coby White<\/a> had an amazing dunk on Wembanyama. That dunk happened in the last seconds of the game. Now, while the Ja dunk on Wemby didn\u2019t count, it was still a more impressive one than the Coby White. Why? Because the Spurs star was technically half a step late, and that wasn\u2019t a pure poster. Morant pulled a completely different poster.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Coby White INSANE poster dunk on Victor Wembanyama to win the game \ud83d\ude31\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l28OTzoSbe4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Friday Night Will Be Wild<\/h3>\n<p>The Spurs and the Grizzlies will meet again, on Friday night at the Frost Bank Center. Memphis took this game, but fans will be eager to see what these two have in store for us. The two teams played amazingly through the game, with some incredible moments. Victor had a foul on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edeyza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Edey<\/a> on the opening tip-off, which is probably one of the fastest fouls. Then, we had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paulch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Paul<\/a> calling up Wemby to tie up Edey for a jump ball. In any case, we cannot wait for Friday night.<\/p>\n<h3>A Great Dunk Season So Far<\/h3>\n<p>If you like dunks, there have been plenty of those nasty ones this season so far. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> throws a few every game, and then we have some dunkers like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mobleev01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Mobley<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Edwards<\/a>, and more. While we have seen an increase in three-point shots, dunks are still the most interesting part of the NBA. While the Ja Morant dunk on Wemby didn&#8217;t count, the highlight remains.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Top Dunks of the 2024-25 NBA Season | Pt.1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qGqwNz1ttIY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this season, Ja Morant said he wasn\u2019t dunking anymore. Well, it looks like after he said that, he has been doing some wild dunks. The Memphis Grizzlies star had one of the best dunks of the year so far, but sadly, it didn\u2019t count. With the game virtually over, he rose for a dunk [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":118358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,32,62,34],"tags":[1782,1822,4669],"class_list":["post-118311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-grizzlies","category-nba","category-spurs","tag-coby-white","tag-ja-morant","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118362,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118311\/revisions\/118362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}