Ja Morant – Sum 2 Prove

From unheralded prep prospect to mid-major star to potential NBA Rookie Of The Year, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant is as legit as they come. And now, he’s focused on one thing and one thing only: stacking wins. From unheralded prep prospect to mid-major star to potential NBA rookie of the year, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant is as legit as they come. And now, he’s focused on one thing and one thing only: stacking wins.

- By Lang Whitaker

IT’S A RAINY MONDAY in Memphis, and for once, the NBA is at rest. One evening earlier, the All-Star Game finished with such a flourish that it actually made the players sweat, and now everyone is enjoying a few days off before things kick in for the stretch run.

Well, not everyone. Right around lunchtime, Ja Morant shows up in his teal throwback uniform, in the practice gym of the team that wasn’t supposed to be able to draft him, where he’s been the season’s best rookie in a league where he wasn’t even on the radar two years ago.

Here in the 901, hope abounds. A team that within the last year traded the two most decorated players in franchise history has managed to hit the reset button with the quickness, in large part thanks to the sparkling play of Morant.

Yet, even as 12 straightens his headband and glares into the camera, he is clear about his priorities with the Grizzlies fighting for the final Western Conference playoff spot: “I’m not here for the fame or none of that. I don’t want it at all, honestly. I’m here to handle business.

IT WASN’T SUPPOSED to happen this way. Because the truth is, the Memphis Grizzlies were in the most precarious of places. We had, by almost any NBA standard, a really good run—pairing Mike Conley with Marc Gasol, then fitting in guys like Zach Randolph and Tony Allen. We reached the postseason seven years in a row, including a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2013, before things started to fizzle out in 2017.