Ja Morant is the definition of a Cinderella story.
The son of former basketball player Tee Morant, the younger Morant was an unranked recruit coming out of Crestwood High School in Dalzell, South Carolina. He immediately ran at the opportunity of getting an offer to play ball at Murray State University and never looked back.
This past weekend, that story added a new chapter of heartache and pain. Morant and the rest of his Murray State teammates were clobbered at the hands of Florida State, 90-62, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Morant, unsurprisingly, led his team with 28 points.
As the Seminoles celebrated, the Racers could only just watch from afar, knowing their team’s story and season was over. Morant, being the one everyone looked to for comfort and direction, did everything he could.
But with the loss comes opportunity.
Morant, a sophomore expected to declare for this summer’s draft after being named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, was the NCAA season assist leader as well as being named a first-team All-American. He singlehandedly put his name on the map by guiding Murray State to a 28-5 season record.
Throughout the season, Morant competed against Zion Williamson and the rest of his star teammates at Duke for the biggest headlines throughout the season. Many nights, he was the only story, and his story has only just begun.
The 6-foot-3-inch guard shot himself up mock draft boards, in some cases leapfrogging RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish for the number two pick right behind Williamson. A mid-major, undersized, under-recruited player could get chosen over two members of the greatest recruiting class since the “Fab 5."
That just shows how special Morant is. Despite being the first player in NCAA history to average at least 20 points and 10 assists per game in a single season, that is not what really makes teams salivate over the idea of having the 19 year old control the team.
It should be the aura of him that should be doing that.
The fact that a teenager, in an almost Stephen Curry-like fashion, brought a team from a school with under 10,000 students to national prominence. If it wasn’t for him, there would be no loss last Saturday night because the team probably would not have been there in the first place.
What should make front office executives scratch and claw at each other for an opportunity to speak with Morant is that, unlike the Duke stars that will get chosen around him, he had no back-up plan. It was Murray State or bust.
That is the type of person an NBA team should want leading its club: a player who, despite being overlooked, never for a second gave up and pushed his way into history and up the NBA lottery board.
Reddish and Barrett are talented players, but they have had the world at their fingertips, always knowing they would be top picks no matter where they ended up. Morant is well on his way to being picked higher than both, and for good reason. Even the bottom-dwelling teams, whichever is lucky enough to have him, will have a guy that has experience as a leader and is capable of changing a program forever.
