SPORTS

ILLUSTRATED

SI.COM

APRIL 2022

31

Morant looks

comfortable. It’s January,

about 45 minutes before

tip-off at FedExForum, and a

throng of fans has arrived early

to watch this NBA season’s most

electric performer amble through

a series of jump shots.

For Morant, the spotlight burns brighter every night.

But here, wearing a sleeveless, white Grizzlies hoodie,

he seems oblivious to the attention, as if he was jogging

around the blacktop in his backyard on a lazy Saturday

morning. Or, better yet, Morant appears ready to take

a test he already has the answers for. At the crowd’s

fore is his father, Tee, seated courtside behind Versace

sunglasses. As Ja’s harshest judge, Tee used to embed

himself with rival fans, hoping to glean criticisms about

his son’s game that he could then turn around and deploy

as his own. Now he’s able to sit back and enjoy the show.

In f ive years, Morant has gone from a scrawny after-

thought at a public high school in South Carolina to

someone who can stake a claim as the face of a cham-

pionship contender. At 22 years old, competing in the

NBA’s smallest TV market, he was an All-Star starter

who received more votes than any other guard in the

Western Conference with the exception of Steph Curry;

his jersey has become the league’s seventh-highest seller

after not ranking in the top 15 a year ago.

“I know he had the potential since probably the age

of 6 to be special in this game,” says Tee, who transforms

into the mayor of Memphis when he stands up, unable

to walk five feet without stopping to shake a hand or

pose for a photo. “But at this magnitude? Nah. I thought

it would be a longer process.”

Today, no player on Earth better concretizes the idea

that basketball peaks when it leans into improvisation;

Morant, at 6' 3", 174 pounds, warps the f loor by exploring

outlandish angles and ungodly ball fakes that precede

an indelible package of finishing moves. His athleticism

yields aesthetic forefathers (e.g., Allen Iverson) and career

paths he aspires to imitate (e.g., Dwyane Wade), but after

accounting for his size, age, efficiency and, now, team

success, historical comparisons are an amalgamation.

Call it a leap if you’d like, but this year has felt more

like liftoff. And by getting where he is so fast—with a

startling spike in usage, scoring and PER that under-

scores his case for MVP—everything that was previ-

ously expected when Morant won Rookie of the Year in

2020 has grown exponentially. “Think of the best point

guards ever,” Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. says.

“He could end up being the best point guard to play this

game. He’s definitely on track for that.”

Morant, of course, is unfazed. About 10 minutes

into his pregame routine, he serves up an appetizer to

the fans. With the nonchalance of a man whose ver-

tical leap pushes 47 inches, he ends the rehearsal by

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