The runaway favorite for the Rookie of the Year honors at the moment would have to be the Memphis Grizzlies standout 6-foot-3 point guard Ja Morant. The former Murray State Racers superstar point guard looked like one of the most dominant individual primary ball handlers on any team in the college ranks last season.
Thanks to that display that Morant put on with the Murray State basketball program down the stretch last season, he jumped up draft boards to solidify his status as the second best player in this class behind Zion. He’s proving his worth from that large billing in the 2019 NBA Draft with his play early in his run with the Grizzlies.
Explosiveness, strong playmaking ability, and a mature two-way skill set are on full display from Morant early on in his NBA career. The Grizzlies made the right, and obvious picks by taking a flier out on Morant at No. 2. He’s also looking like the favorite far and away at this point to take home the Rookie of the Year honors.
The Grizzlies are seeing Morant average 19.1 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists while shooting 46.7 percent from the field and better than 40 percent from three-point range. On a bad team, he’s also posting a 18.9 player efficiency rating and somehow already has 0.3 win shares. His solid two-way skill set is put on display with 1.2 steals per game and four blocks already in his career.