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Calls Escalate for NBA to Suspend Thunder's Lu Dort After Ja Morant’s Injury

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paolo Songco | Last updated Apr 24, 2025 11:05 PM ET

Losing is not an option for the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night. They entered Game 3 of their NBA playoffs first-round series against the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder down 2-0, and a defeat on Thursday will put Memphis in a virtually insurmountable position.

Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, they might need to fight this one out without their best player available. This is after Ja Morant was forced to exit the game in the second quarter following a nasty fall.

Morant went up for a dunk on a fastbreak play, but was undercut by Thunder forward Lu Dort mid-air. The Grizzlies superstar lost his balance and ended up falling to the floor pretty badly.

Hope Ja is okay pic.twitter.com/BrskpwT7wR
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 25, 2025

The controversial play quickly grabbed attention online as fans angrily called Dort out for his role in Morant's injury. Calls for the NBA to suspend the Thunder's defensive specialist immediately escalated on social media.

"Dort better get suspended wtf is that play," a comment on X read.

"dort always doing dirty (expletive) (expletive) like this and gets away with it he should be suspended at least one game," another said.

"Ban Dort from the NBA," a user demanded.

"Get Dort out the league, theres no pads or grass in the NBA. He needs to go to the NFL," a fan wrote.

"Dort must’ve been inspired by the NFL draft and decided he was playing football tonight Dirty play and dirty team tackling Ja like that… Everyone always taking cheap shots ‍♂️" said another.

"Suspend him for the playoffs," a viewer declared.

Morant was slow to get up after the play, and he had to be helped by teammates as he made his way to the bench. Thankfully, the Grizzlies guard was able to return to take his free throws, but he eventually exited the game to make his way to the locker room.

Dort was not assessed with a Flagrant foul on the play.

As of writing, the Grizzlies have not provided an update on Morant's status moving forward. Memphis is currently up big at the halftime break, 77-51.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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