Ja Morant has had a breakout season this year, and he is one of the best point guards in the league. The young guard has shown that he can use his athleticism and finish at the rim effectively, and he is one of the best playmakers in the league. Currently, Ja Morant is putting up 27.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 6.6 APG.
Shaquille O’Neal has long been a fan of Ja Morant. O’Neal has previously even compared him to a young Kobe Bryant, pointing out the similarities in mentality between the two players.
“I wasn’t talking about the player. I was talking about the attitude. When Kobe came in at 19 he knew he was the s**t, he just knew it. The coach will be like, ‘don’t do that play,’ Kobe would be like, ‘nope I’m doing it.’ Like this kid is really freaking good and he knows it.”
“And there’s not a lot of people you can say that about in this league as a young player. That’s what I mean by that. He knows it, he wasn’t highly drafted, wasn’t highly talked about, made a name for himself late in the NCAA, but he knows he’s good. He knows that’s his team and he’s playing really well. That’s what I meant by that.”
Recently, Shaquille O’Neal has given Ja Morant some even bigger praise. O’Neal claimed that he told Ja Morant that he is the best player in the league, and added that the NBA will “definitely be his league in a few years”.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1501361940970414084
“You should’ve seen this little kid’s face when I said ‘Yo man, you’re the best player in the league. He was like ‘huh?’ and I’m not playing with you bro, you’re the best–for real. I promise you’re the best,” Shaq said of Morant. “Ja is good, Penny was like that, Kobe was like that. This kid, it will definitely be his league in a few years.”
There is no doubt that Ja Morant has been absolutely spectacular this year. He has made the Memphis Grizzlies into a contender this season, and they have a legitimate chance to get to the NBA Finals this season.
It remains to be seen how far the Memphis Grizzlies will go in the postseason under Ja Morant’s leadership. Even if they don’t get all the way to the Finals, their future is definitely in good hands.
