Ja Morant

Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant praised Memphis Grizzlies cornerstone Ja Morant as the "face of our league going forward" before the teams' meeting Monday night, which ended in a 134-124 Memphis win.

Durant clarified the remark, saying there's some competition for that top spot in the NBA, but he noted Morant is "doing some stuff that we've never seen before."

Morant recorded 38 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals in 34 minutes for the Grizzlies, and KD was asked whether the point guard reminded him of anyone.

"Nobody really," Durant said. "He's a unique player. A lot of athleticism and creativity out there. Body type reminds you of somebody like—well he's taller than A.I. [Allen Iverson], but a wiry, strong player ... but he's an incredible player, man."

The 23-year-old Murray State product started to show signs of reaching his full potential last season, earning his first All-Star selection and the NBA Most Improved Player Award.

It's only a four-game sample size, but the early returns suggest he may take his game up another level in 2022-23. He's averaged 35.3 points, 7.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 threes while shooting 54.8 percent from the field during the team's 3-1 start.

Backcourt running mate Desmond Bane is also playing at an All-Star pace in the early going, including 38 points of his own in Monday night's victory.

As a whole, it's given the Grizzles the look of a serious threat after finishing second in the Western Conference last season, and it all starts with Morant.

"He's an incredible athlete," Nets point guard Ben Simmons said prior to Monday's matchup. "He pushes the pace, gets his team going, shares the ball. He's relentless at the rim, so we just got to be physical."

Morant and Bane combined for 56.7 percent of the Grizzlies' points (76 of 134) against the Nets in what became a dual of superstars. Durant and Kyrie Irving put together a similar performance for Brooklyn, combining to score 74 points.

Memphis will look to continue its early-season surge when it opens a four-game road trip Thursday night against the Sacramento Kings.

You might think the way Ja Morant has played through the early part of the 2022-23 season defies comparison. Actually, it invites it.

Kevin Durant, who is something of an authority on basketball greatness, won't let Morant's excellence live in isolation. Prior to the Memphis Grizzlies' 134-124 win over Durant's Nets on Monday, in which Morant erupted for 38 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, KD invoked a couple of past greats in an effort to describe the ascending superstar.

"I've been in the league with [Derrick] Rose and Russell Westbrook," Morant told Nick Friedell of ESPN, "so many athletic guards I'm missing, but those two stick out the most to me. The stuff they were doing was unheard of, and you're seeing other guys doing the same thing. I'm sure [Morant is] inspired by those two as well."

The league leader in scoring through four games and the new owner of a deadly three-point shot to go with his pantheon-level athleticism, Morant isn't just in the same class as the two MVPs Durant mentioned. He's on track to be better than both of them.

Allow this to serve as the exclamation point that last sentence probably deserved:

Withhold accusations of blasphemy. Or at least give KD credit for knowing what he's talking about. He's been flinging flowers at Morant for a while.

Morant's speed, creativity and general stiff-arming of the laws of physics are the obvious jumping-off point for these comparisons. At the very least, he's in the same tier of athleticism Rose and Russ once occupied. But can Ja really stack up statistically?

Ja at 23 vs. Russ at His Best, Russ at 23

Westbrook's MVP season in 2016-17 was one for the ages. He averaged a triple-double, carried the Oklahoma City Thunder to the postseason with a never-ending string of clutch brilliance, led the NBA in box plus/minus and set the single-season record for usage rate. Morant hasn't put together a season of that magnitude. But Westbrook never came close to matching that level of stat-stuffing dominance before and hasn't since, and Morant's trajectory suggests he can produce one of even greater value.

At 23, Russ was an All-Star who put up 23.6 points, 5.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds. At the same age, Morant is sitting pretty at 35.3 points, 7.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds. Those figures will normalize, but it's hard to argue Morant isn't the superior player, especially when you factor in efficiency. Westbrook shot 45.7 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from deep at age 23; Morant's shooting split is 54.8/60.0. Those figures will also regress, but Morant's 49.3/34.4 numbers last year were better than anything Westbrook managed at his best.

Ja Now vs. D-Rose at His Best

Rose won his MVP in his age-22 season while leading the Chicago Bulls to a league-best 62 wins. He averaged 25.0 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 assists with a 55.0 true shooting percentage and—holy smokes—that's where the comparison pivots aggressively in Morant's favor. That season was obviously Rose's best before injuries derailed his career, and Morant has already had a better campaign—last year...in his age-22 season.

Though Ja's Grizzlies didn't rack up 62 wins, his stat line surpasses Rose's in conspicuous ways. Morant averaged 27.4 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds with a 57.5 true shooting percentage. That last figure is higher than any Rose produced in his career. Ditto for Westbrook, who topped out at 54.5 in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

The Dagger(s)

Forget all the full-season stuff for a second. A more immediate comparison might make the case clearer. Westbrook has had only three games, all of which came at the age of 28 or later, in which he matched Morant's Monday line of 38 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while shooting at least 54.0 percent from the field with at least four made triples. If you filter for turnovers (Morant had just two), Westbrook has never had a game that compares to what Morant just did.

Rose never had a 38/8/7 game in which he shot 54.0 percent or better, let alone one with four made threes.

The triples, really, are the key. Though Morant sprinkled highlights of all sorts throughout the win, his last bucket was the most interesting for our purposes.

That was his fourth trey of the contest, and it sealed the result while illustrating a key difference between Morant and his predecessors. Kyrie Irving gave Ja a cushion demanded by the scouting report. The Nets and every team Morant faces know that crowding him results in blow-by drives and finishes that require apology notes to the friends and loved ones of any rim-protector unlucky enough to be in the vicinity. Morant saw that space and simply slung a smooth jumper from two steps behind the line.

Rose and Westbrook were overwhelming downhill attackers, gifted with elite burst, change of direction and lift. But they never put defenders to a decision like this. Rose and Westbrook were great despite their outside shots; Morant will be greater because of his. Those two force-fed defenders one kind of poison, while Morant lets opponents pick.

At least teams knew if they contained a D-Rose or Russ drive, they had a chance. The helplessness that comes from watching Morant drill deep threes off the dribble demoralizes.

Morant has such fast-developing skills and a statistical track record that already puts him ahead of the pace set by a couple of previous greats that we (and KD) might not be making these comparisons much longer. Or, if we are, we'll be asking if the next generationally talented guard has a chance to touch the heights Morant is reaching right now.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Accurate through Monday.

Ben Simmons' return to the court after he missed last season is not going as he hoped, and he took out some frustration on the officiating after the Brooklyn Nets' 134-124 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.

"It's frustrating. It's not a foul," Simmons told reporters when discussing his sixth infraction. "That was bulls--t. It's frustrating because it's late-game. You're in the fourth quarter. It's a physical, close game. It's the NBA; it's not college, not high school."

Ja Morant seemingly baited Simmons before the whistle for his sixth foul. The Grizzlies point guard looked toward his bench, and Simmons pressed up and put his left hand on Morant before Morant tried to escape:

"A lot of it was bulls--t calls if you ask me," Simmons said.

He also ended his news conference with a smile and said, "I just don't want to get fined."

Monday marked Simmons' third game of the season, and he has fouled out twice, scoring 17 points and committing 14 fouls. The Nets are 1-2 and don't look capable of challenging the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics or others at the top of the Eastern Conference.

Simmons' return to the lineup made Brooklyn one of the biggest wild cards of the NBA this season, as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are quite the one-two punch on the offensive side. If Simmons can rediscover the form that led to two All-Defensive nods and three All-Star selections during his time with the Philadelphia 76ers, the team would have a much higher ceiling.

He has not found that form in the early going, and his five turnovers against the Grizzlies counteracted eight assists.

The LSU product was expected to be rusty after he missed last season and as he adjusts to a new team, but this has been far from an ideal start.

There may be a fine coming as well after he was openly critical of the officiating.

Ja Morant has no comparisons in NBA circles according to Kevin Durant.

The Brooklyn Nets forward lauded Morant on Monday, telling reporters the Memphis Grizzlies star is "doing some stuff that we've never seen before" on a basketball court.

"Nobody really," Durant said when asked for a comparison. "He's a unique player. A lot of athleticism and creativity out there. Body type reminds you of somebody like—well he's taller than [Allen Iverson], but a wiry, strong player ... but he's an incredible player, man."

Morant is off to a stellar start to the 2022-23 season, averaging 34.3 points and 7.0 assists while leading the Grizzlies to a 2-1 record. His relentlessness attacking the rim has thus far been met with an improvement from three-point range, with Morant knocking down 57.1 percent of his threes on 4.7 attempts per game.

Small sample size theater aside, Morant already proved his bona fides as a foundational superstar last season while leading the Grizzlies—a team most picked to be a play-in team—to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference while winning Most Improved Player.

Now firmly in his place as an elder statesman of the NBA, Durant has been open in his praise of the game's younger stars of late. He called Zion Williamson a "one-of-one" player and threw more plaudits Morant's way Monday.

"I've been in the league with [Derrick Rose] and Russell Westbrook, so many athletic guards I'm missing, but those two stick out the most to me," Durant said. "The stuff they were doing was unheard of, and you're seeing other guys doing the same thing. I'm sure he's inspired by those two as well. The league's in a great place."

The Nets visit Memphis on Monday, giving Durant a first-hand look at how Morant will look lined up across his own point guard, Kyrie Irving, and guard-forward Ben Simmons. If the Nets' perimeter defense to start the season is any indication, we'll likely see some more praise for Morant's in postgame comments.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, international soccer players Trinity Rodman and Sam Kerr, tennis player Carlos Alcaraz and U.S. sprinter Erriyon Knighton were named to the Time100 Next list for 2022.

Time's Next list identifies rising stars in the cultural landscape before they become crossover mainstream names.

Already a human highlight reel in his first two NBA seasons, Morant emerged as a bonafide superstar last season. He averaged 27.4 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds while leading the Grizzlies to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, earning an All-Star berth and All-NBA selection along the way.

"We’ve got a unicorn in Memphis, my hometown," pop star and Grizzlies part-owner Justin Timberlake wrote in Time. "Every once in a while, certain players come along and really change the culture of the game. Ja is emerging as a face of the NBA for good reason. The only thing missing for him is championship hardware."

Rodman, the daughter of Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, has already built her own impressive resumè and appears to be emerging as the next face of American women's soccer. The 20-year-old became the youngest player ever drafted into the National Women's Soccer League last year, and just a year later she was nominated for the Ballon d'or Féminine.

"She could literally shred the fences internationally worldwide in time," women's soccer legend Brianna Scurry wrote of Rodman. "That’s going to be really exciting to see, because I think as she grows, she will become unstoppable. Literally. It’s all there. The wealth of potential is off the charts."

Knighton has an equal chance to etch his name in the record books as the next great American sprinter. The 18-year-old set the under-20 world record in the 200-meter dash in April and won bronze at this year's World Championships.

Alcaraz, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, became the youngest player to ever reach the No. 1 spot in men's tennis history at 19 years and 130 days old. In a period of tennis where Roger Federer is stepping away, Novak Djokovic is playing a part-time schedule due to his vaccination status and Rafael Nadal is approaching his late-30s, Alcaraz is potentially in the process of filling the sport's desperate need for a new superstar.

Kerr is the oldest athlete on the list at 29 and is already cemented as a legend. She's the only woman to win the Golden Boot in three different leagues and has been one of the most prolific soccer players on the planet for a half-decade.

Memphis Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant said players around the NBA have started to respect his game, but he noted his willingness to talk trash in the heat of battle has rubbed some opponents the wrong way.

Morant discussed his relationship with fellow players Tuesday on The Pivot podcast (via ClutchPoints):

The 23-year-old Murray State product is already building an impressive resume. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 2019-20 and he's coming off a campaign where he earned his first All-Star selection while capturing the Most Improved Player Award.

Morant averaged 27.4 points, 6.7 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 49.3 percent from the field in 57 games last season. He finished seventh in MVP voting.

One thing the dynamic point guard doesn't lack is confidence.

In July, Morant told Bleacher Report's Taylor Rooks he wanted to go up against Michael Jordan and the dynastic 1990s Chicago Bulls.

"I would have cooked [MJ], too," he said. "Nobody got more confidence than 12. ... I'm definitely gonna go and say nobody is gonna beat me one-on-one in anything. I don't care what sport it is, soccer. Who the best player in soccer? C'mon. We can play."

Morant and the Grizzlies have made steady progress across his three seasons, going from 34 wins in his rookie year to 56 last season, when they reached the Western Conference Semifinals before losing to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors.

Memphis will look to take another step toward championship contention in 2022-23, and it wouldn't be a surprise if Morant finishes closer to the top of the MVP race.

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant learned of one of his Christmas presents months ahead of time.

NBA insider Marc Stein reported the Golden State Warriors are expected to host Morant and the Grizzlies on Christmas Day. The star guard was thrilled to learn of the news and is relishing another meeting with Warriors star Draymond Green.

Grizzlies vs. Warriors has quickly become a heated rivalry as Memphis has ascended as a viable threat in the Western Conference again. The teams faced off in the conference semifinals, with Golden State winning in six games.

Green expressed his newfound respect for the Grizzlies following the series, but that hasn't stopped him and Morant from exchanging the occasional volley on social media.

The outcome of one regular-season game won't shift the balance of power in the NBA, but Morant and the Grizzlies can send a strong message to the rest of the league if they walk into Chase Center on Christmas and leave with a decisive victory.