12 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Ja Morant

Mar 21, 2019; Hartford, CT, USA; Murray State Racers guard Ja Morant (12) reacts during a time out during the second half of a game against the Marquette Golden Eagles in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at XL Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

You might be wondering, then: Why does everyone call him Ja? It’s a shortened version of his middle name, Jamel.

Ja’s father, Tee, suited up with Jesus Shuttlesworth himself at Hillcrest High School of Dalzell, S.C. Both players went on to play college ball: Allen, obviously, at UConn (before an illustrious 18-year run in the NBA), and Tee at Claflin University of Orangeburg, S.C. Tee’s hoops career didn’t end in the college ranks, though.

After his time at Claflin, Tee played on the international circuit and tried out for the NBA. But before he could break through on the highest level, something happened that threw off his hoop dreams: his wife became pregnant with Ja. Given the change in life circumstances, Tee moved on to his second career, working as a barber to support the family.

Ja is very close with his whole family—a promising sign for an NBA franchise evaluating character. On his left arm, he even has a tattoo of some advice his mother passed along to him: “beneath no one.” But that definitely wasn’t the case when he was on the high school hoops scene.

Ranking high school prospects will always be an inexact science. Zion Williamson wasn’t top 3 per most recruiting services, and they missed the boat entirely on Morant. None of the major services—24/7 Sports, ESPN, or Rivals—had Morant ranked. Despite once playing AAU ball with Williamson and starring in high school, the lanky guard wasn’t even a two-star recruit! A weird confluence of circumstances led him to his eventual college destination.

The Racers stumbled on gold when assistant James Kane attended a camp to see a different player. While he was on the hunt for a snack during the camp, Kane happened to see Morant tearing it up in a 3-on-3 game in a side gym. One thing led to another: Kane hit up Murray State coach Matt McMahon, and Morant landed a scholarship offer. Though he was also being courted by South Carolina, Duquesne, Maryland Eastern Shore, Wofford, and South Carolina State, Morant committed to Murray State while eating dinner at McMahon’s house in September 2016. To which everyone at Murray State says: God bless that snack break.

Morant is a monster athlete, so it might surprise you to learn his explosiveness didn’t really develop until later on in his career. Though most top prospects start dunking in middle school, Morant couldn’t throw it down until the summer before his senior year of high school. “Before then, I’d probably get one dunk out of 25 tries,” Morant recalled. He said back in high school, he was a “short, slow guard”—so maybe we should cut the recruiting services and top-level scouts some slack. He also came a long way during college.

You may have seen Ja’s name on some mock drafts before this college season began—he was considered a fringe first-round pick. But he took his game to another level this past season. After posting averages of 12.7 points and 6.3 assists per game as a rookie, Morant elevated his marks considerably. Perhaps most importantly, he became more efficient, improving his shooting averages from the field, free throw line, and 3-point range. He also showed improved defensive ability, doubling up his averages for steals (from 0.9 to 1.8) and blocks (from 0.4 to 0.8). Given his athleticism, he has the potential to become a two-way stud in the league. His ascension as a sophomore was made easier because...

Morant shared the spotlight at Murray State in his first year with stars Jonathan Stark and Terrell Miller. Stark led the squad with 21.6 PPG and earned Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors, and Miller scored 15.1 PPG of his own. When their college eligibility expired, the team was Morant’s. He immediately showed he was up to the task, dropping 26 points and 11 assists in a season-opening win. Shortly thereafter, he hung 38 on Alabama in a close loss, at which point he really put college basketball fans—and NBA scouts—on notice. From there, every night became The Ja Show, and his name was routine sports-talk fodder.

Murray State isn’t an NCAA power, but Morant was a part of two tourney squads in his two college seasons. The Racers were a No. 12 seed both times. The first time around, they fell in the first round to West Virginia (Morant had 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting). This year, though, they won another OVC Tournament title and thumped Marquette, 83-64, in the first round. Morant was absolutely lights out in that game, scoring 17 points on only nine shots while handing out 16 dimes and snagging 11 boards. His squad was eliminated in the second round with a 90-62 loss to Florida State, but Morant did have 28 points in defeat. He quickly declared for the draft after the L, at which point he jumped into individual workouts to prep for the league. We also know one thing he hasn’t been doing this summer.

You hear a lot of cliches about emerging athletes, but Morant’s work ethic has been consistently noted throughout his rise—it’s reminiscent of what people once said about Giannis Antetokounmpo. Morant’s high school coach, Dwayne Edwards, who also mentored Ray Allen as an assistant coach at Crestwood, had high praise for Ja. “Ja would practice with me, then he’d go home and practice with his daddy after practice,” Edwards recalled. “You couldn’t open the gym enough for Ja Morant. You couldn’t open it enough. ‘Coach, can you open the gym this Sunday? Can you ask coach Brown?’ We’d finish up, then he’d go to the backyard with his daddy and shoot some more.”

There’s more consensus than usual about the top pick this year: pretty much everyone thinks it should be Williamson, who’s just an unbelievable, one-of-a-kind athlete. But despite the Zion hype, there are some folks out there who think Ja should go No. 1 in the draft. Of course, Tee thinks so: “What he did out here proves that he’s the best player in the country,” Ja’s dad said in March, in addition to claiming his son deserved to go “before 1” in the draft. But Tee isn’t the only one in this boat. For example, Yahoo’s Henry Bushnell argued that Morant is more of a sure thing than Williamson, and noted hoops writer Gregg Doyel called Morant a “hybrid superhero” mix of Westbrook and Allen Iverson. That sounds like one hell of a player. We’ll have to wait a few years to see how this (mild) debate shakes out.