Allison Farrand-USA TODAY Sports
In a survey of NBA general managers that was conducted ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, Memphis Grizzlies floor general Ja Morant was one of the top vote-getters for who is most likely to have a breakout season. But Morant was confused to find himself among a list of players that maybe haven’t come into their own yet.
Of the five players mentioned in the above graphic, Morant is the only one to have earned multiple All-Star appearances to this point. His selections came in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
On top of that, he’s also the only one of the five to have ever finished in the top 10 in MVP voting. He received the seventh-most votes to win the hardware after he averaged 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game in the 2021-22 regular season.
Maybe a bounce-back season is the better way to describe what Morant will try to achieve in his sixth NBA season, considering he was limited to just nine games in the 2023-24 campaign. He had to sit out the first 25 games of Memphis’ 82-game slate as he was serving a suspension for conduct detrimental to the NBA.
Morant then injured his shoulder not long after he made a return to the court for the Grizzlies and subsequently had to sit out the remainder of the season.
With Morant sidelined for the overwhelming majority of the campaign, Memphis had a 2023-24 campaign that it would probably like to put in the rearview mirror. The Grizzlies won only 27 games and ended with the third-worst record of any team in the Western Conference behind only the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers.
But like Morant, the Grizzlies seem primed for a bounce-back season, so long as they can stay healthy. Memphis employs two of the best defensive players in the league today — Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marcus Smart — a bona fide star in Desmond Bane and a legitimate contender to win the Rookie of the Year in Zach Edey.
All in all, expect Morant to help Memphis be one of the eight teams in the Western Conference that will participate in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
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