Ja Morant’s opening stretch of the 2025-26 campaign was defined by extreme, whiplash-inducing volatility. He exploded out of the gates on 10/22 vs NOP, dropping 35 points on a blistering 13-for-20 from the floor to generate a massive +26.0 Impact score. However, his perimeter touch quickly abandoned him, leading to several highly inefficient outings. That slump hit rock bottom on 11/01 vs LAL, where a disastrous 3-for-14 shooting night—including zero makes from deep—dragged him down to a -8.1 Impact. Even when Morant filled the box score with playmaking, his erratic shot selection carried a heavy hidden cost. Look at his 11/04 vs DET performance; despite tallying 18 points and 10 assists, he posted a -6.2 Impact because he clanked 11 field goals and settled for bad looks from beyond the arc. When Morant attacks the rim efficiently, he is an unstoppable engine, but this stretch revealed how much his cold outside shooting can actively sabotage an offense.

A brutal shooting slump and a sudden injury absence defined this miserable seven-game stretch for Ja Morant. His jumper abandoned him entirely on 11/09 vs OKC. That night yielded an abysmal -17.0 impact score as he forced up terrible looks during a 3-for-18 shooting nightmare. Yet, he somehow managed to salvage a +5.1 impact on 11/08 vs DAL despite another rough 7-for-20 performance from the floor. Even when his shots refused to drop, Morant kept the offense humming by racking up 13 assists to create massive non-scoring value. After logging just six minutes on 11/15 vs CLE before vanishing for a month, he returned on 12/13 vs UTA and immediately fell back into bad chucking habits. While his box score boasted 21 points and 10 assists against the Jazz, his -4.6 impact score revealed the hidden cost of a guard whose inefficient 7-for-20 shot selection actively killed his team's offensive momentum.