“Ja At 10?”: Damian Lillard Befuddled At The Ringer’s ’25 Best Under 25′ List Disrespecting Ja Morant

The Ringer’s “Next Generation Rankings” have caused quite the stir on social media, with the places of certain players causing mayhem. Damian Lillard is just one of the many to be left baffled after learning that Ja Morant was ranked no higher than 10^th on the list. Taking to X (formerly “Twitter”), the Milwaukee Bucks guard let his real opinions be known.

Ja at 10 https://t.co/4lvN67vY6z

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) May 23, 2024

“Ja at 10 *confused face emoji*”

The Ringer lauded the Memphis Grizzlies guard for being an “electric and creative playmaker”. However, they did highlight Morant’s physical style of play to be a disadvantage.

“Morant’s style has always been heavily contingent on being physically spectacular—and that’s a tough racket for a leanly built guard who lives on penetration and rim production. He’s like a basketball spelunker: traversing tight spaces, scaling perilously high peaks, and terrifying us with the high stakes of when something goes wrong,” The Ringer wrote.

Yes, there is a case for placing the likes of Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Luka Doncic. However, the likes of Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Tyrese Maxey, and others being ranked above him seem questionable, to say the least. So, it really is hard to disagree with Damian Lillard’s confusion.

Morant’s five years in the NBA have been beyond impressive – two All-Star selections, an All-NBA selection, and a Most Improved Player player award. To especially say that rookies Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren are already better than him seems to be bordering on blasphemy.

Especially given what the Grizzlies star has the potential to be, the list just doesn’t seem like it’s doing him any justice whatsoever.

Ja Morant has the potential to be a future face of the league

Ja Morant proved his naysayers wrong when the Grizzlies were being criticized for drafting him at #2 in the 2019 draft. During that subsequent season, the athletic guard recorded 17.8 points and 7.3 assists to win Rookie of the Year honors.

Since then, Morant has been consistently improving. However, injuries and off-court issues have limited him to just 127 regular-season games in the past 3 seasons. And unfortunately, these roadblocks have prevented the South Carolina native from reaching his true potential so far.

Further, the rise of Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards this season has led to many claiming that they are now next up for the honor. However, back in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 campaigns, when he averaged 26.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game, Morant seemed like a shoo-in for the position.

With the player now back in the gym and seemingly healthy enough to set foot on the hardwood the next season, things do seem to be looking up again. Now, the 24-year-old just needs to get back on the horse and show the world why it was wrong to forget about him in this conversation.