[sendtonews_embed video_id=”chE3d8EPNH-791658-7498″]
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant established himself as the frontrunner to win the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year award after a tremendous showing on the court.
Part of what made Morant the favorite for the award was his ability to lead the Grizzlies to a turnaround season. The improvement has surprised some this season as the Grizzlies were in eighth place in the Western Conference prior to the suspension of the regular season.
Given the success of his team, Morant recently drew high praise on a recent episode of the “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Podcast” from Windhorst himself.
“The fact is that Ja was just so terrific,” Windhorst said. “Go back through the history of the great, All-Time rookies, most of the time they don’t affect their teams that much. Even LeBron as a rookie lifted the team up to respectability but they were not a playoff team. It is very rare for a rookie to affect change so much fast change in a team’s outcome and I think that Ja did.”
Windhorst was joined by fellow ESPN reporters Jackie MacMullan and Tim MacMahon as the group gave their picks for the regular season awards. They each picked Morant to win the Rookie of the Year over the likes of Zion Williamson and Kendrick Nunn.
[lawrence-related id=15611,15432,15385]
[vertical-gallery id=14709]