{"id":94610,"date":"2024-09-07T07:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=94610"},"modified":"2024-09-07T11:26:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T15:26:45","slug":"top-25-nba-players-2024-25-no-21-ja-morant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/07\/top-25-nba-players-2024-25-no-21-ja-morant\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 25 NBA Players 2024-25: No. 21 &#8211; Ja Morant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Continuing with our ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/04\/top-25-nba-players-2024-25-no-22-bam-adebayo\/#:~:text=Next%20up%20in%20our%20top,elite%20defense%20and%20overall%20impact.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">top 25<\/a> player rankings we arrive at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/moranja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-06_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ja Morant<\/a> the Memphis Grizzlies&#8217; dynamic young guard. Despite off-the-court issues and injuries hampering Morant\u2019s previous two seasons, he\u2019s among the best players in the league. Morant\u2019s elite finishing and playmaking combined with his proven ability to be the best player on a competitive team solidifies this. Let\u2019s explore Morant\u2019s game and place within the NBA hierarchy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Top 25 NBA Players 2024-25: No. 21 &#8211; Ja Morant<\/h2>\n<h3><strong>An Electrifying and Dynamic Guard<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With elite speed, athleticism, and finishing Morant is simply one of the most entertaining players to watch. Morant is a nightly highlight reel with supreme athleticism and electrifying dunks. However, Morant isn\u2019t just a flashy star when healthy, he&#8217;s one of the most productive NBA players. In the previous two seasons when Morant was healthy, he averaged 26.8 points and 7.4 assists while leading the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/02\/above-the-rim-but-under-the-radar-a-look-at-the-2024-25-memphis-grizzlies\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Grizzlies<\/a> to two 50-plus win seasons. In addition to his dynamic scoring abilities, Morant is one of the NBA\u2019s best playmakers. Ja&#8217;s passing consistently elevates players around him.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crucially Morant has proven he can be the number one option on a highly competitive team.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately Morant\u2019s value to the Grizzlies and incredible talent can\u2019t be understated. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>\u2014 NBA World (@NBAW0RLD24) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBAW0RLD24\/status\/1615056166970658825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 16, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Season Recap\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/nba-suspends-ja-morant-25-games-waving-gun-instagram-live-rcna89733\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">waiving a gun<\/a> on Instagram Live for the second time Morant was suspended for the first 25 games. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/27\/grizzlies-fans-should-be-extremely-hopeful-for-the-season-after-new-ja-morant-and-zach-edeyintel\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Morant<\/a> would return in December however, he would only play in nine games before having season-ending shoulder surgery. Nevertheless, in those nine games, Morant was excellent averaging 25.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 8.1 assists. Morant\u2019s nine games included plenty of highlights and an incredible return game where he notched 34 points and hit the game-winning shot. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, the Grizzlies posted a 6-3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/grizzlies-record-with-ja-morant-in-2024\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">record<\/a> with Morant in the lineup. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it was disappointing to not see Morant on the court much this past season he delivered some great moments when he did play. Similarly, this season highlighted Morant\u2019s value to the team as the Grizzlies won just 27 and finished 13th in the conference. Notably, in the two previous seasons, the Grizzlies had consecutive 50-plus win seasons and finished as the second seed in both years.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"JA MORANT WINS IT AT THE BUZZER IN HIS RETURN \ud83d\udea8\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/umZO71j1xZw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Season Outlook\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Ja and much of the Grizzlies&#8217; supporting cast healthy, Memphis is poised to contend in the West. The Grizzlies drafted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edeyza01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-06_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Edey<\/a> ninth overall who will provide Morant with a pick-n-roll partner and bruising interior presence. Morant\u2019s co-star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=jacksja02,jacksja01&amp;search=Jaren+Jackson&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-09-06_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a>\u00a0will also benefit from playing alongside Edey specifically on defense. As long as the Grizzlies stay healthy they are poised to return to the playoffs and perhaps even a top-three seed. This will go hand and hand with Morant having a stellar bounce-back season. When he\u2019s on the court Ja is one of the league\u2019s best players. This season Ja will have the chance to remind everyone of that. If Morant\u2019s stats stay consistent with his career averages and the Grizzlies remain competitive in the West he will certainly rise up the ranks of the NBA\u2019s best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Last Word<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Morant is one of the more difficult players to properly rank. After a lackluster finish to the 2022-23 season and missing most of the 2023-24, many have forgotten how great Ja is. As a result, he has fallen off many people\u2019s top 25 lists. Admittedly I have penalized several players on this list due to lack of availability. However, with Morant, I\u2019m betting this won\u2019t remain a consistent issue when healthy Morant is a proven number-one option on a 50-plus-win team. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout his young career, Morant has also proven to be an expectational playoff performer, posting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/moranja01.html#playoffs_per_game\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">averages<\/a> of 27.3 points, 8.6 assists, and 6.8 rebounds. In the right situation Ja could be the best player on a championship team the Grizzlies aren\u2019t too far away from being true contenders. This level of superstar upside can\u2019t be ignored from a 25-year-old guard. Let\u2019s not forget Ja was a consensus <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/09\/30\/top-nba-players-2022-23-13-ja-morant\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">top-15<\/a> and borderline top-10 player less than two years ago. With a productive season, Morant can reclaim this status however, if he gets injured again his ranking will drop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Continuing with our ongoing top 25 player rankings we arrive at Ja Morant the Memphis Grizzlies&#8217; dynamic young guard. Despite off-the-court issues and injuries hampering Morant\u2019s previous two seasons, he\u2019s among the best players in the league. Morant\u2019s elite finishing and playmaking combined with his proven ability to be the best player on a competitive [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4779,"featured_media":94617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,32],"tags":[1822,5031,49488],"class_list":["post-94610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-grizzlies","tag-ja-morant","tag-nba-player-rankings","tag-top-25-nba-players-2024-25"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4779"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}