Ja Morant has vaulted to must-see TV every time he steps on the floor. That’s rarified air, even amongst the NBA superstar elite.
For many basketball fans, Warriors star Steph Curry still holds that must-see championship belt, with displays like the NBA All-Star Game where he reaches that holy moly, you-have-to-see this level with his record-breaking 16 3-pointers. That won him the Kobe Bryant MVP Trophy and accolades from LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But Ja is staking his claim for the must-see TV star of the next generation like Curry first did years ago.
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“What’s happening with Ja really reminds me of what happened with Curry,” Bill Simmons noted on the most recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. “That first Curry season when he was with David Lee and Klay, and you could feel the momentum happening… that second Warriors season when they have the big battle with the Clippers. It basically set the stage for the title the year later. But it was the year that Curry started to resonate with kids, and Curry was becoming this star, that he was a little different than the [other NBA] stars, because he was so different and unique as a player.”
For those that might not be Dub Nation diehards, that “first season” was Curry’s fourth season (2012-13). That team also had a rookie Draymond Green, and finished 47-35, losing in the Western Conference semifinals to the San Antonio Spurs. The next year, the Warriors added Andre Iguodala, went 51-31, but had a disappointing first-round exit at the hands of the Chris Paul-led Los Angeles Clippers.
Steve Kerr replaced Mark Jackson after that season, and the rest is history for Curry, who won three NBA championships and two MVP awards since.
“And I feel that way with Ja,” Simmons continued. You know we have these different type of guys that come in. And you have like the perimeter shooter guy. You have the traditional point guard that has the ball all the time guy. You have the big men. And then you have, the most interesting guys in the league have been the Europeans - Giannis, Jokic, and Embiid [Editor's note: Embiid is from Cameroon].
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"These guys that are just like, what are they? They’re unicorns. Ja’s not a unicorn, but he’s so night-to-night different, and unique to watch play to play that in his own way, it’s like a Curry thing. Where with Curry, the whole thing was, when’s he getting hot?... Oh he’s starting to feel it. Oh he just made his third three. And you’re just kind of waiting for it. And with Ja, I think it’s the same thing.”
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And as The Ringer’s self-admitted Ja Morant fanboy Chris Vernon points out on the podcast, fans would never show up so early to an arena to watch warmups before Steph Curry came on the scene.
Basketball fans everywhere can only hope that Curry and the Warriors meet Morant and the Grizzlies in the NBA playoffs this spring. That certainly will be the epitome of must-see TV.