Ja Morant Is Forcing Himself and the Grizzlies into Lofty Conversations

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Ja Morant may lead the NBA in TLTO (timeline takeovers) this season.

In January, he levitated above the rim like Magneto for a two-handed chase-down denial of Avery Bradley that’s already being discussed as one of the best blocked shots of all time.

In the All-Star Game, he had a pair of alley-oop finishes that put this year’s dunk contest to shame.

In February, he cut through the lane, caught a bounce pass from Steven Adams and immediately went up and around DeMar DeRozan with an opposite-direction 360 layup.

Then on Monday, he set the Memphis Grizzlies’ franchise record for points in a single game with 52, completed a full-court alley-oop buzzer-beater that defies description (though comedian Mike Camerlengo did as well as anyone could) and dropped a hammer on Jakob Poeltl that seemingly changed the big man’s name to “7-footer” in headlines.

That dazzling performance illustrated a few things simultaneously.

Morant is one of the NBA’s premier showmen. Whether he intends to be this dynamic or it’s a byproduct of his relentless effort, he raises the highlight potential of every single possession in which he’s involved.

A turnover can become an all-time great block. A routine backdoor cut can lead to an arena full of ooohs and aaahs, even on the road. A full-court inbounds pass with 0.4 seconds on the clocks and almost no chance of success can turn into two points.

Whether they realize it or not, NBA players compete every season for the unofficial #LeaguePassAlert crown. The last definitive wearer was probably Stephen Curry in 2015-16. Since then, he, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and others have flirted with the honor.

In 2021-22, we have another contender. According to Basketball News’ Alex Kennedy, Ja trails only Curry and LeBron James in total views across the NBA’s social media platforms this season.

Highlights aren’t all we get from Morant’s performances, though. Gerald Green had his share of jaw-dropping moments, but he averaged 9.7 points for his career and had a below-average true shooting percentage. (Sorry for the stray, Gerald, but yours was the first name that came to mind when I thought of ridiculous displays of athleticism. So really, there’s a compliment in there).

Morant, meanwhile, is up to 27.6 points, 6.6 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 threes this season. His b ranks eighth in the league, ahead of Stephen Curry (6.1), Chris Paul (5.2), Donovan Mitchell (5.1), James Harden (4.6) and Trae Young (4.6). He’s also in the top 10 of Basketball Reference’s MVP Tracker.

Morant’s highlights are layered on top of consistent, efficient production. His style may generate much of the attention right now, but the substance lends merit to comparisons to earlier MVP campaigns from the likes of Allen Iverson and Derrick Rose.

In 2000-01, AI had a 6.1 BPM to go with a league-high 31.1 points, 4.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game. Ten years later, Rose posted a career-high 6.8 BPM while averaging 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds.

Morant is right in that range, and at least one of his predecessors is taking note.

Jokic is having one of the greatest statistical seasons in NBA history. Antetokounmpo isn’t far behind. Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid already has plenty of pull in the narrative department. And as absurd as Morant has been, the Grizzlies’ point differential is still slightly better when he’s off the floor.

But it’s become increasingly difficult to imagine Ja finishing outside the top five in MVP voting this season. It would be silly to bet against him eventually winning the award.

In the meantime, Morant has his team positioned for a deep playoff run. And that’s the third thing we learned from Monday’s performance, a lesson that has been repeatedly reinforced all season.

Memphis, which has adopted the audacity with which Morant plays, is a bona fide contender.

The Grizzlies have the league’s best net rating since November 25. We aren’t dealing with a small sample size now. That’s three-plus months at the top of the NBA. They also have a 5 percent (or better) shot to win this year’s title in ESPN, Basketball Reference and FiveThirtyEight‘s projection systems.

They aren’t the title favorites, but they also aren’t write-offs.

And however you want to define him—MVP contender, #LeaguePassAlert king, you name it—Morant has proved over the last calendar year that he can be the best player in an individual series. He averaged a series-high 30.2 points per game in the Grizzlies’ first-round loss to the Utah Jazz last season, outdueling Jazz All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell.

Doing that in four straight rounds is another story. But for someone who’s made the impossible happen on plenty of individual plays, that isn’t out of reach, either.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats courtesy of Basketball Reference, NBA.com or Cleaning the Glass.