If and when the NBA season comes to a close, Ja Morant will probably end up walking away with rookie of the year honors. He has been phenomenal for the Memphis Grizzlies and his talents have helped turn the Grizzlies into a playoff team. Prior to this season, Morant played college basketball for Murray State which is located in Kentucky. Morant loved his time in Murray, and now, he is trying to create some valuable social change in the area.

Recently, Morant sent a letter to a judge in Kentucky asking for a Confederate statue in downtown Murray to be removed. As Morant notes, the Confederacy was quite racist and while the statue reminds us of history, it's a history that is shrouded in hate, and ultimately, it makes many uncomfortable.

Thanks to the ESPN documentary "The Last Dance," a whole generation of basketball players are now being made privy to the incredible talents of none other than Michael Jordan. Of course, most adults see Jordan as the greatest player of all time, however, many young stars never got to see MJ play. This doc allowed the young ones to finally get a glimpse at just how amazing MJ truly was throughout his numerous championship runs.

One of the players who was convinced of MJ's greatness was none other than Ja Morant. In a recent interview with Taylor Rooks, Morant admitted that he didn't know much about Jordan although the documentary made him realize that he is the true GOAT. As Morant explained, he used to think it was LeBron but now his mind has been successfully changed.

It feels like forever ago now but back in February, the Memphis Grizzlies traded Andre Iguodala to the Miami Heat after a half-season of holding out. Iguodala had been dealt to the Grizzlies the Golden State Warriors and it was clear that he had no interest in playing with the young guns down south. Iggy claims the team allowed for him to sit out although, during an interview on the “All The Smoke” podcast, Ja Morant explained that it was much deeper than that.

As the rookie told Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, Iguodala felt like the team simply wasn’t good enough and that they weren’t worth his time. While Iguodala is in a good situation in Miami, it’s important to note that the Grizzlies are in a playoff spot right now.

“Coming in, when they said he was going to be on our roster, I was very excited having a vet like that in the locker room with us,” Morant said. “Me coming in that first year, I was looking forward to learning some stuff from him and he was saying he wasn’t going to play with us or whatever happened. Like you said it’s a business, all different stuff going around, somebody said he said we weren’t good enough so in my head I was like it is what it is.”

While Iguodala’s feelings towards the Grizzlies may have been harsh, they make sense considering he wants to finish his career with an NBA title. Don’t get us wrong, the Grizzlies will be great for years to come. However, for an aging veteran, they aren’t the best landing spot. At least not right now.

Ja Morant was killing it in his first year in the NBA, prior to the suspension of the season due to the Coronavirus. If and when the league resumes, Morant's Memphis Grizzlies will be in a playoff spot which is something no one would have predicted at the beginning of the season. With that being said, Morant has been impressing a lot of people, including some of the most well-established artists in the entire world. On a recent episode of the "All The Smoke" podcast, Lil Wayne praised Morant for being one of the best young players in the entire league.

Morant was made aware of this praise and took to Twitter with one word: "Love." Clearly, Morant was surprised by the shoutout although he was incredibly happy to receive it, nonetheless. 

Lil Wayne is one of the greatest rappers of all time and when he isn’t writing new songs and recording new music, he can be found watching live sports. Basketball is easily one of his favorites and it is well-documented that he is a huge fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. Recently, Wayne went on the “All The Smoke” podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes where he spoke about his love of Kobe Bryant and a whole range of other topics.

Sticking to sports, Wayne was asked about who are some of his favorite players in the NBA right now. As a Lakers fan, Wayne made sure to acknowledge LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the entire Lakers bench. From there, he spoke about a plethora of veteran players, as well as some young guns were thrown into the mix.

The aforementioned veterans were Chris Paul, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. From there, Wayne spoke about two of the league’s standout rookies, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson. Wayne was particularly impressed by Ja Morant who was making the Memphis Grizzlies look like a bonafide playoff team.

With Wayne’s comments in mind, it’s clear that he is paying attention to the next generation of players. If you get name-dropped by Wayne, you must be doing something right.

Dwyane Wade is just like us in the sense that he is equally as bored in light of the Coronavirus-induced shutdown of the NBA. With nothing better to do except self-isolate, DWade decided to take to Twitter where he did a Q&A with all of his fans. There were some pretty great questions being asked and at one point, a fan wanted to know who Wade's favorite rookies are this year.

Wade gave some pretty obvious answers although his third choice was definitely one that will make Chicago Bulls fans happy. The NBA legend picked Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, and Coby White. Curiously, Wade omitted Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat but such is life. We're sure Wade still thinks highly of the Heat young gun.

Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant is a shoe-in to win the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year Award, but if somehow Zion Williamson takes home the honors NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is going to be absolutely irate.

When discussing the Morant vs Zion Rookie of the Year race, Barkley says (H/T Bleacher Report's David Gardner): "I wanna say this about Zion Williamson. He’s an amazing kid from a distance. He’s been a great jolt of energy for the NBA. *BUT* if they screw Ja Morant out of this Rookie of the Year thing, I’m going to be really pissed, and I’m going to blow a gasket on TNT."

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Zion is doing his very best to make things interesting down the stretch, but it's highly unlikely he'll overthrow Morant at this point so Chuck's gasket is probably safe.

In the 19 games since making his NBA debut on January 22nd, Zion leads all rookies in points and rebounds per game with 23.6 and 6.8, while Morant has averaged 17.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and a rookie-leading 7 assists per game in 58 appearances. 

There's still an outside chance that Zion's Pelicans can make the playoffs over Morant's Grizz, which would certainly help his case, but NOLA would have to make up four games over an 18-game stretch to close out the season. And even if Zion appears in each of those 18 contests, he will have only played in a total of 37 games this season and there's simply now way that's enough to earn the ROY award, right?

Although, it might be worth it just to see Barkley lose his shit on live television.

Ja Morant came into the NBA with a chip on his shoulder and he has easily been one of the league's most impressive players, early on. The Memphis Grizzlies star has put his team in a playoff position with just over 20 games to go in the season. It remains to be seen whether or not the Grizzlies will get there but so far, so good.

Morant is one of the frontrunners for the Rookie Of The Year trophy although if you had asked anyone about a month ago, it would have been clear that Morant should win. Now, Morant is facing stiff competition from Zion Williamson who has been brilliant in his first 15 games. There seems to be a real debate as to who should win the award but according to Omari Sankofa of The Athletic, Morant couldn't care less.

LeBron James has been dominating the NBA ever since he entered the league back in 2003. Coming out of high school, there were a lot of expectations thrust upon LeBron and so far, he has lived up every single one. LeBron is now 35 years old and is in his 17th season. Despite this, he has yet to slow down from a production standpoint. His Los Angeles Lakers have the best record in the Western Conference and he has a solid chance of winning the NBA title. 

As his career winds down, the NBA will look for other young players to become the face of the NBA. LeBron is well-aware of this and has started mentoring some young players. Recently. LeBron spoke out about the future of the league and name-dropped young phenoms like Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Luka Doncic, and Trae Young.

Ja Morant continued his Rookie of the Year caliber season Saturday night, outplaying LeBron James and beating the Lakers 105-88. After the game, both players spoke about each other with high praise, according to ESPN.

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"The kid is super special," said James, "Like I said when we just played him in L.A., Memphis got a great one. They got a great one. So, the sky's the limit for the kid."

"That's big bro -- the King," Morant said. "I mean, I feel like everybody knows who he is. Just somebody that I look up to, a great [role] model. He's just one of a kind. I don't think there can be another LeBron."

Morant finished with 27 points, 14 assists and 6 rebounds in the dominating victory. He easily outplayed James who scored 19 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. 

In the second half, Morant attempted a dunk on Lakers' big man Anthony Davis but was called for a charge; however, the sheer athleticism of the play was enough for it to make highlight reels.