Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant is one of the most athletic players to enter the NBA in recent memory, and at only 20 years old, he's still learning to harness those physical gifts fully. On Monday against the Pacers, his momentum took him too far on one layup attempt, and led to a play that will almost certainly kick off a news cycle.
Morant, the Rookie of the Year favorite, drove to the basket on this play. As he adjusted in midair to account for a block attempt by Myles Turner, his momentum carried him well beyond the baseline, and he wound up falling into the cameraman stationed under the basket. He had to leave the game with an apparent back injury. The camera that Morant fell into, though, managed to capture the fall perfectly.
Ja Morant is down bad after falling down bad into a cameraman pic.twitter.com/JRtwm1g8Fp
— Chris Montano (@gswchris) November 26, 2019
Morant returned to the floor after halftime, but the moment still raises questions about the circumstances surrounding the injury in the first place.
As players grow more athletic, technology like this poses greater threats to their health. While the baseline cameraman may have been viable when the idea was conceived, plays like this show the danger that they pose. Morant will not be the last player to fall into a camera, especially as the league continues to get faster and play at a higher pace. While the NBA wants a variety of camera angles at its disposal during games, it also needs to weigh the integration of such technology against what it means for the players themselves.
If nothing else, camera operators in this position need to have space to move when situations like this arise. The cameraman in this instance simultaneously managed to do his job perfectly by getting the shot, but also somewhat poorly by seemingly contributing to an injury to Morant, one of the most exciting players in basketball.
Ideally, this incident will help the league strike a safer balance, and thankfully, Morant appears to be OK, but this easily could have been a great deal worse. The league can't risk losing its best players over niche camera angles, so it seems likely that this at least sparks a conversation about how best to proceed moving forward.
