How Ja Morant’s rookie season stacks up with recent point guard greats

Ja Morant has been spectacular, but is his stellar play enough to group him alongside some of the best rookie seasons from point guards in recent years?

It’s hard to tell by how well Ja Morant has played in his first season, but being an NBA rookie is hard.

It’s a culture shock both on and off the court, one that requires athletes to adjust their daily schedules and grow accustomed to facing off against stiffer competition on a nightly basis.

Doing so while shouldering the responsibilities of an entire offense at the league’s premier position presents far more difficulties, the type Morant seems to be taking in stride midway through his rookie season.

The most recent No. 2 overall pick is running away with Rookie of the Year honors by averaging 17.9 points and 7.0 assists per game for the Memphis Grizzlies. He’s dazzled with dunks and dimes, slowly but surely attracting national coverage to a place not too familiar with such levels of flair.

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There’s no exact science for predicting future stardom on account of early career success. Some players peak early and others are late bloomers.

But as Morant continues an unexpected heightened level of play, it’s difficult not to measure the former Murray State guard against the rookie seasons of positional contemporaries whose trajectory took them to greater heights.

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This group of Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Derrick Rose, John Wall and Russell Westbrook have been Rookies of the Year, All-Stars and MVPs with records made all their own, representing some of the best the point guard spot has had to offer over the last decade or so.

Each had varying levels of success amid their first taste of NBA ball due in no small part to circumstances that include age and surroundings.

Morant still has a ways to go before his rookie season is complete, but the results at the halfway point of the season certainly paint an encouraging picture.

When measured up to that elite group, Ja’s rookie numbers rank second in both scoring and assists per game — behind Lillard and Wall, respectively. His 18.7 PER tops them all, as does his win shares per 48 minutes.

And despite the highest usage rate, Morant still comes out on top in true shooting percentage by nearly three points, all while being the only one to average fewer than 30 minutes a night.

Rose was alone in qualifying for the postseason as a rookie, helping his Chicago Bulls to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with 41 wins. His isolated achievement is important to note in the context of what Morant is currently attempting to accomplish.

The Grizzlies aren’t worried about the draft lottery. Without their first-round pick, they’re headed in the opposite direction, riding a seven-game win streak that currently has them placed eighth out West.

It’s far easier for an inexperienced ballhandler to drop gaudy stat lines in the absence of real competitive fervor — call it the Devin Booker conundrum. To do so in a way that vastly pushes your team past expectations adds a different level of value, a credit to Ja and Memphis as a whole.

Breakups are thought to be difficult. It was supposed to take the Grizzlies several years to be able to move past the Grit-‘n’-Grind era given the talented but raw youth across their roster.

Morant fell under that umbrella, but has found himself taking shelter under a different roof at the same time, one that served as the early house for many of the game’s best point guards.

Outliers will always exist, but the writing is on the wall. Ja Morant is a future star and if his immense contributions to winning are any indication, he should find long-term comfort among those greats in due time.