Grizzlies guard Ja Morant says he’s motivated by his desire to be recognized as an All-Star player, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports writes. Morant, who has been on a scoring tear this season, averaging 30.5 PPG and 8.5 APG, says he has a chip on his shoulder after being passed over for the All-Star Game in his first two NBA seasons.
“I feel like it took me averaging 35 points a game to finally get some All-Star recognition,” Morant said. “But, I really can’t speak too much on that. I feel like my chip will never leave.”
We have more on the Southwest Division:
- Mavericks guard Trey Burke will not play against San Antonio on Thursday due to COVID-19 protocols, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. Burke is not sick, but he missed part of his protocol sequence, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News tweets. Unvaccinated players are required to go through more COVID protocols between games than those who are vaccinated. Burke, who is signed through 2022/23, has only made two brief appearances this season.
- Rookie Joe Wieskamp is taking a positive approach to being assigned to the G League by the Spurs, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express News tweets. “It was really fun to be around the (NBA) team and go to the games, but obviously we weren’t getting too many minutes, if at all,” he said. “This gives us an opportunity to go out there and play and develop.” The former Iowa wing is playing on a two-way contract.
- Pelicans guard Garrett Temple is doubtful to play on Friday after injuring his ankle on Wednesday, according to a post on the team’s website. “It’s still pretty sore with his left ankle,” coach Willie Green said. “We’re not sure about (Temple’s availability for) tomorrow, but we’ll know more as we get closer to the game.”
All Star appearances don’t really mean anything its mostly a popularity thing and then you have to be liked by the coach for the game. He probably won’t end up with 30 ppg, because he won’t sustain 55 FG% or 45 3p%. He’s basically aborbed the shots taken by Jonas.
All NBA should be his individual goal. That and actually making those dunks lol. The best missed dunks in the league.
Ja Morant is 1 of the guys that could be the face of the NBA moving into the future, in my opinion. Love everything about how he carries himself, his maturity, his poise, his leadership, how hard he plays, the way he speaks in his interviews. When he was still in college, it just jumped out how you would think he was in his late 30s. This dude just has the right things going for him, and is going to be extremely fun to watch for a very long time. Wish Memphis did a better job this offseason getting him some space on the floor
Ja!
How about Bane & Melton #2 and #3 in minutes? JJJ is #4 but not doing that well. The rookie may have been a too-cute pick by some exec at #10. A lot could happen with this group.