Ja Morant

Ja Morant (born August 10, 1999, Dalzell, South Carolina, U.S.) is an American basketball player who was one of the NBA’s leading point guards in the early 2020s. Morant was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the second overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. He quickly made an impression on fans with his dynamic and high-flying acrobatic plays, and he was named Rookie of the Year in 2020. However, that early promise was derailed in 2023, when he received two suspensions for brandishing guns on social media. Morant’s performance subsequently declined amid a series of injuries and further controversies, and in 2026 he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Early life and college

He was born Temetrius Jamel Morant but later became known as “Ja” (pronounced “Jah”). His father, Tee Morant, played college basketball, and his mother, Jamie Morant, was a college softball player. Tee Morant considered playing overseas but gave up those plans when Jamie Morant became pregnant. When Ja Morant was a toddler, he began playing basketball, and his father developed training programs for him. As a middle schooler, Morant was relatively undersized and lacked elite-level speed and quickness. So Tee Morant drilled his son on footwork, jumping, and other skills, which, along with a growth spurt—Ja Morant eventually reached a height of 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 meters)—helped elevate his game. It also instilled in him a strong work ethic.

Nevertheless, by his senior year, in 2016, Morant had attracted little interest from colleges. Then an assistant coach for Murray State University (MSU), who was scouting another player, happened to see Morant in a side gym. He was impressed by what he saw, and MSU began aggressively recruiting Morant. Murray State’s head coach, Matt McMahon, considered him “a basketball genius,” possessing great athleticism and intelligence. Morant ultimately decided to play for MSU.

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Morant averaged 12.7 points and 6.3 assists per game in his freshman year (2017–18), then blossomed into one of the best players in the country in his sophomore year. That 2018–19 season, he averaged 24.5 points and 10 assists per game, the first men’s player to average at least 20 points and 10 assists since the NCAA started keeping records of assists in 1983–84. Morant’s performance helped Murray State earn a berth in the NCAA tournament. In the first round, Morant gained national attention when he scored a triple-double (17 points, 16 assists, and 11 rebounds) as Murray State upset Marquette University, 83–64. However, MSU was defeated by Florida State University in the next game, 90–62. Shortly thereafter, Morant announced that he was leaving school to enter the 2019 NBA draft.

NBA

Early promise

With his court vision, agility, and leaping ability, Morant was compared to such stars as Russell Westbrook, Allen Iverson, and Chris Paul. Morant, who referred to himself as “Point God,” said he was a “pass-first” point guard. Talking to reporters at the NBA combine in Chicago, he said, “I really don’t try to focus on scoring. I’d rather take an assist over a bucket any day, but I really feel like I can score the basketball.” The Grizzlies selected Morant with the number two overall pick, just after the New Orleans Pelicans took Zion Williamson.

In his first season in the NBA, 2019–20, Morant averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 assists per game and was a near-unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year, winning 99 of 100 first-place votes. He helped lead Memphis, which had finished 12th in the Western Conference the previous season, to a play-in game for the postseason. However, the team lost to the Portland Trail Blazers.

In his second season, Morant posted similar stats, and Memphis qualified for the playoffs but was defeated by the Utah Jazz in the first round. Morant then had a breakout season in 2021–22, averaging 27.4 points per game as the Grizzlies finished second in the Western Conference with a record of 56–26. In the playoffs, the team advanced to the conference semifinals, where Memphis lost to the Golden State Warriors. Morant won the Most Improved Player Award and finished seventh in the MVP vote. His acrobatic plays, soaring dunks, and uncanny ability to improvise on the fly made him one of the league’s most entertaining players.

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