Miami Heat legend and TNT analyst Dwyane Wade sees a lot of similarities between him and Ja Morant.
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During a recent episode of NBA on TNT, former teammates Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade paid Ja Morant the ultimate compliments. While Shaq called him the best player in the league, D-Wade put the Grizzlies guard on the same pedestal as himself, Allen Iverson, and Derrick Rose.
Ja may have already earned himself the tag of being the best player in the Grizzlies franchise history. The former ROTY recently became the first player in franchise history to record a 50-point game.
Ja has driven 385 million views across all social media platforms off-late, joining the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
Recently, The Grizzlies dethroned the Warriors from the second seed in the western conference. The young core of the Memphis team has been playing fearlessly, looking like solid contenders amongst the Warriors and Suns.
With TNT Tuesday broadcasting the Grizzlies game against the Pelicans, the esteemed panel had some high words of praise for Ja, with three-time champion D-Wade even confessing to seeing glimpses of himself in the 22-year old.
Dwyane Wade gives his flowers to Ja Morant.
The Heat veteran has been riding on the Ja wave since the beginning of the season. Wade is confident about seeing the Grizzlies guard on stage during the NBA’s 100th anniversary. When asked about the similarities between him and Ja, Wade said the following.
“Well, I think the cool thing for a guy like Ja Morant is he got an opportunity to watch Allen Iverson, Derrick Rose, and someone like myself. These smaller guards play a lot bigger than they are, and I look at Ja, look at me. We are not known for our outside shot, but lead the league in paint points, putting the pressure on the rim at all times. We’ll put a body on you at any moment going to the basket and just using his athleticism in so many amazing ways.”
“He’s taken it to even another level.”@DwyaneWade breaks down the similarities between his own game and what he sees in @JaMorant pic.twitter.com/b4o68CYyJQ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 9, 2022
A gem from @ESPNStatsInfo: Ja Morant has 13 games with 20+ points in the paint this season. That passes 2019-20 Russell Westbrook and 2005-06 Dwyane Wade for most 20+ paint point performances by a guard in a season over the last 25 years.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) January 30, 2022
These are some high words of praise coming from one of the greatest all-time shooting guards. Though Ja has a lot to achieve, him being mentioned in the same breath as AI, D-Rose, and Wade is highly commendable.
The All-Star guard is currently averaging 27.6 points, 6.6 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and shooting almost 50% from the field.