It’s strange to say that a flubbed dunk attempt is the most exciting play of the NBA season so far, but in the words of Cavaliers star Kevin Love, Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant nearly ended his career on Friday night with what would have been one of the best dunks of the decade.
In the first quarter of Friday’s Grizzlies-Cavaliers game in Cleveland, Morant drove into the lane uncontested after grabbing a loose ball, and upon seeing Kevin Love lining up to take a charge outside the restricted area, decided to jump over Love entirely for a one-handed dunk. Morant couldn’t quite clear Love and was unable to finish the play, but the attempt itself was spectacular.
Dear lord, Ja Morant almost destroyed Kevin Lovepic.twitter.com/GFt3tRsZwU
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 21, 2019
Love said after the game that he was so happy that Morant missed the dunk, or he may have had to take off his jersey and leave the floor.
“I went down to their bench and I said ‘he legit jumped over me.’ It was just at the very end he clipped me with his leg, but I was so glad he missed that dunk. I look back, I helped him up and just kind of… that was like my tip of the hat to him. The kid is really, really special and you’ve got to give credit where credit is due.”
Love also gave Morant a shoutout on Twitter.
Ja almost ended my professional career with this dunk…that kid is something special 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 https://t.co/5SxCItAMba
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) December 21, 2019
Morant may not have completed the highlight, but we’ll always have this amazing picture of the moment.
[opinary poll=”should-ja-morant-be-in-the-nba-dunk-cont” customer=”forthewin”]
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