Memphis Grizzlies: 3 storylines that will come to an apex in final stretch

Memphis Grizzlies story No. 2: Ja Morant’s road to superstardom

After Ja Morant’s sensational rookie year, anything short of a run at an All-NBA team was going to feel like a disappointment. So while it feels ridiculous to call Morant’s sophomore effort a disappointment, he hasn’t quite taken the hoped for steps forward this season.

Morant is still ridiculously good, don’t get it twisted. He’s averaging 19.5 points and 7.3 assists per game. It’s just not a big progression from last season, when he averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 assists per game.

Vitally, Morant has actually taken a step in the wrong direction when it comes to his three-point shooting. He hit just over a third of his attempts last year, 33.5 percent. This year, however, he’s hitting just 29.9 percent of his three-point attempts.

Consistency would go a long way for Morant’s game. He scored more than 30 points twice in the month of April, including a 36-point outburst against the Denver Nuggets, though that game went into double-overtime.

But he also has scored ten points or less four times this month. He scored just eight points in Friday night’s win over the Orlando Magic. Memphis didn’t need him to score much – the Grizzlies won by 17 points – but eight points in 33 minutes is just not going to cut it for the team’s best player.

There’s obviously no reason to panic with Morant, as development ebbs and flows are to be expected. But Memphis is still waiting to see the former second overall pick kick it into the next gear.