Ja Morant is establishing himself as one of the fastest rising stars in the world of basketball. He had a breakout 2021-22 season where he became an All-NBA and All-Star caliber player, even competing in the race for the MVP through portions of the season.
Morant made it to the second round of the NBA Playoffs and was stopped by the championship-winning Golden State Warriors. Despite that, the future is looking brighter than ever for his Memphis Grizzlies and for him as the star of the squad.
Ja has been talking up a big game recently, openly saying he would beat Michael Jordan in a 1-on-1 in MJ’s prime. That is a very cocky statement for a player that just completed his third year in the league and hasn’t put up the kind of numbers MJ did by that point in his career.
Ja refuses to believe he can be beat, which is the right mentality for any athlete. He took it so far that he challenged Lionel Messi to a 1-on-1 in soccer where Morant wants to be the goalie against one of the greatest offensive talents in soccer history.
Ja Morant said he wants to take on Leo Messi one-on-one 😅 https://t.co/mW1wHmZGk3
— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 12, 2022
“I’ll never go and say somebody gon’ beat me 1-on-1. I don’t care what sport it is. Who’s the best player in soccer? We can play. Messi, yeah. That’s pretty cold. I wanna be the goalie. Matter of fact, somebody set it up.”
In a soccer 1-on-1 between Morant and Messi, we’d be inclined to take the side of the Argentinian athlete. Morant could be a formidable goalkeeper given his athletic ability, but it may be a step too far for him to try and stop a strike from Messi.
This would be a blockbuster 1-on-1. Maybe Messi could return the favor and play a pick-up basketball game with Ja so that both players could play each other’s sports.
