It will take more than just a Ja Morant absence for the rest of the NBA to stop the Memphis Grizzlies, who are continuing to have success on the court even without their brightest star.

For one, the Grizzlies don't have just one star. It's more than just a Ja Morant team despite what the optics say. Memphis' breakout in the 2021-22 NBA campaign is a product of a collective effort that is further underscored by their current six-game win streak — all without the help of Morant. In fact, the Grizzlies still had Morant active the last time they suffered a loss, which was against the Atlanta Hawks on the road on Mar. 18. He left that game with a right knee issue that apparently was serious enough to force him out of action.

One player who's truly stepped up to help the Grizzlies mitigate the impact of Morant's absence is De'Anthony Melton.

Melton is only averaging 10.7 points per game this season, but as shown in the tweet above, he has been playing at a much higher level of late, in part out of necessity. For the Grizzlies to still collect victories sans Morant, they have to get the immense production he's been supplying the team all season long from other sources. It's not just Melton that's elevated his play lately for Memphis, but he's the one who's seen the biggest jump in scoring production since Morant started missing games. Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks have also raised their offensive contributions as well as Tyus Jones and Brandon Clarke.

In the last six Memphis contests, Melton has averaged 19.8 points on 58.3 FG%. He's knocked down 5.0 threes per game on an unsustainable 58.8 3FG%. While that screams eventual regression, the fact remains that Anthony has done more than what the Grizzlies have expected of him.