Watching ESPN's “The Last Dance” has Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant wishing he could play against past greats.
The Grizzlies rookie told Ashley Brooke he would have liked to play in past eras, especially against the likes of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
Ja Morant has been watching ‘The Last Dance’ like the rest of us and wishes he could’ve played against some of the greats like MJ and Kobe. We talked about what the Bulls had to do to overcome the Pistons and he shared a similar story after losing in the NCAA tourney. @JaMorant pic.twitter.com/XyLHnmvS9m
— Ashley Nevel (@AshleyNevel) April 29, 2020
For his part, the Grizzlies high-flyer had not even been born yet by the time Jordan retired for the second time in 1998, shortly after winning his sixth NBA championship.
Still, Morant and other youngsters like Trae Young have evoked plenty of excitement at learning more about Jordan and the Bulls during the run of the documentary, and it would be hard not to want a shot of competing against arguably the greatest player of all time.
Morant certainly had ample opportunity to watch Kobe play growing up. Ja spoke about Kobe's impact on his life shortly after Bryant and eight others–including his daughter Gianna–were killed in a helicopter crash in January (via Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News):
“A lot. Great guy. Got the autographed jersey. Just very emotional just to see someone like that that you grew up watching,” he said after finishing with 18 points, 10 assists, two steals and a plus-42 in 28 minutes against the Knicks on Wednesday. “I’m pretty sure every kid had that moment when you shoot something in the trash can and you yell, ‘Kobe.’ I just grew up watching a lot of Kobe, Lakers-Celtics. Just rooting for him. Just his mentality going into the game, something I was trying to process in my game.
While Morant dreams of playing against past greats, he is one of the leaders of the new school.
The former Murray State star is likely to win the Rookie of the Year Award after averaging 17.6 points, 6.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds while also keeping the Grizzlies in playoff position for the majority of the season.
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