Nikola Jokic is the best basketball player on the planet. Giannis Antetokounmpo may be the most dominant at the moment. And the future may belong to Luka Doncic in terms of the next “greatest basketball player alive”.
None of them hold a candle to the energy that comes when watching Ja Morant play.
LeBron James is in a battle with father time and is winning (for now). Kevin Durant and Steph Curry are not far behind. And Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards may believe that they’ve got the inside track on being the next great American star.
But they don’t. Because Ja Morant is back. And no disrespect to any of the names listed above, but when Ja plays - it’s just different.
And that is what will lead to Ja helping get the NBA out of it’s early season ratings slump.
There’s no denying that skepticism about Morant’s place among the NBA elite is justified. For reasons both of his own doing and out of his control, he has not been in the public consciousness consistently for the better part of two years. His game has notable flaws - still no average three point shot to speak of, limited defensive impact, and availability concerns.
It’s hard to invest in a star if you’re concerned it may burn out before it should. And yet - there is no one in the NBA more capable of catching the attention and igniting the basketball imagination of the league and its young fans than Morant.
He connects two generations of fandom. For those in their 30’s and 40’s (like me) that still sit down and watch games, he’s a basketball genius at work. He thrives in transition and gets out and runs after grabbing rebounds (a defensive strength of his is rebounding as a guard). He is almost always a step ahead of defenses, finding ways to get the ball in shooting pockets and to slashers in a timely manner. He is an unselfish superstar, boasting the absolute best assist percentage in the NBA right now at an astonishing 49.1%. That is fun to see over the span of entire game.
But for the younger generation - 20’s, teenagers - they don’t usually sit in their recliner and watch two hour basketball games. They scan social media for highlights and brief film breakdowns. And as you are almost certainly aware, no one in the NBA goes viral like Ja Morant. He has a game between high flying acrobatics and elite passing (alley oops to fellow stars are viral opportunities as well) that is amenable to the young and old of NBA fandom alike.
For numerous reasons - some fair, some unfair - counting on Ja Morant to again be the face of the future for the National Basketball Association feels like a risk. But it is one Commissioner Adam silver must take. The league just signed a new media deal. They’re fine - for now. But what about what comes next? Who will provide the energy for the next decade to come?
The answer is Ja Morant.
