Ja Morant started alongside Damian Lillard in the Portland Trail Blazers’ season opener Wednesday night. That ended a day of questions about whether the two-time NBA All-Star would begin his first season in Portland on the bench.
The Blazers then routed the Phoenix Suns 124-83 at Moda Center, and Morant finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals in just 23 minutes. In fact, his +33 plus/minus was the best on the team. Leading up to the game, there was uncertainty over whether Morant would start thanks to an inaccurate report from ESPN.
Ja Morant Starts Despite ESPN Report Stating Otherwise
The confusion centered on an Oct. 20 Andscape feature by senior NBA writer Marc J. Spears. It was about Lillard’s comeback from a torn left Achilles tendon, an injury that cost him the entire 2025-26 season.
“Due to the backcourt logjam, Morant is expected to come off the bench,” Spears wrote, although the line has now been tweaked in the feature. Spears’ report quickly went viral on social media, prompting plenty of reactions.
However, on Wednesday afternoon, NBA insider Chris B. Haynes reported that Morant would start alongside Lillard to form a star-studded backcourt. The NBA world had plenty of reactions once Morant started and contradicted the reporting.
“So Marc Spears lied?” one fan wrote bluntly.
“Marc Spears really had people fooled for nothing … I don’t know why Spears put that out there lmao,” one Blazers account added.
Others joked about the last-minute change.
“Ja sent them black SUVs to Micah Nori’s house,” one fan wrote.
“Nike HQ made the business call,” another user added.
Some, including NBA influencer Jamal Cristopher, shared their thoughts on the Blazers’ decision to start Morant and Lillard together.
“IMO this more about keeping JA engaged because u do need him. Blazers ain’t dumb they know this doesn’t have the greatest likelihood of succeeding,” he wrote. “But u also gotta keep a locker room. So sometimes things gotta fail 1st, so when u go away from it u have something to stand on.”
Morant was the face of the Memphis Grizzlies’ franchise for years, so a shift to a bench role would have been an enormous adjustment for the two-time NBA All-Star.
“Was rather surprised when it was reported he’d be coming off the bench in the season opener. I think they’ll eventually bring Ja off the bench but they have to at least try starting him alongside Dame,” Blazers beat writer Casey Holdahl added.
Blazers coach Micah Nori, for his part, talked about Lillard’s role in Spears’ feature: “And the one difference that you’ll see with Dame now is he’ll be off the ball a little bit more than what he was earlier in his career.”
(For what it’s worth, the Blazers tried both looks in the preseason. Morant came off the bench in an Oct. 13 win at Sacramento, when Lillard and Scoot Henderson started. Three nights later at Golden State, he started next to Lillard and scored 19 points.)
Despite the confusion over the starting lineup, Spears’ point about the Blazers’ backcourt logjam stands, as they have Lillard, Morant, Jrue Holiday, and Henderson.
Holiday played 21 minutes off the bench, contributing 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist. Henderson played 19 minutes as a reserve and chipped in 15 points.
Portland led 43-12 after the first quarter, and their lead grew to 52 points at one point. The Suns never led, and Lillard finished with 25 points on 6-of-10 shooting from 3-point range in his return.
The Blazers (1-0) play at the Sacramento Kings on Friday, and they host the Grizzlies, Morant’s former team, on Oct. 29.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.