Ja Morant had a record-breaking season. The third-year player was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player on Monday, beating out fellow finalists Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs for the award.
He is the first Grizzlies player to receive the honor – and the first player in NBA history to have won both Rookie of the Year and Most Improved Player.
Last season, the 22-year-old averaged 19.1 points per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from three-point range. This season, he averaged 27.5 points, 6.7 assists, and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from three-point range. His improved play also led to Morant being named as an NBA All-Star.
A year ago, Memphis finished 38-34 and qualified for the playoffs after defeating the Spurs and the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Play In Tournament. Morant led the Grizzlies to franchise tying 56-26 record this year, with the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Currently Memphis is locked in a 2-2 playoff battle with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“It’s definitely big-time,” Morant said about his honor. “This award goes to me, but I feel like it’s a team effort.”
“That pretty much just shows our work ethic, as a whole, as a team,” Morant added. “We all push each other. We all want to be better. I thought we all have that ‘never satisfied’ mindset and that’s why you see three guys from the same team receiving votes for this award.”
The All-Star guard said he spent the off-season working to become more consistent from the 3-point line and trying to get better from the midrange.
“Those were pretty much the two main areas I worked on this past summer,” Morant said on TNT.. “It allowed me to take a big leap in my game, as you can see from my scoring.”
Morant campaigned heavily for his teammate Desmond Bane to receive the honor. Bane finished fifth in the MIP voting.
In his rookie year Bane, the No. 30 overall 2020 draft pick, averaged 9.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. This season, he put up 18.2 points per game, 4.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
In the end, Morant surprised his teammate with the award.
