Rising NBA superstar Ja Morant recently gifted the men's and women's basketball teams at Miles College pairs of his signature Nike shoes. The Golden Bears debuted the Nike Ja 1 shoes a few days ago on Dec. 30 in an 87-85 victory against Rust College.

Fred Watson, the athletic director at Miles, is a good friend of Tee Morant, Ja's father. A simple call to the senior Morant kick-started the process.

“I've known tee for quite some time,” Watson said. “That's my guy. I made one call to him and within minutes, I was on the phone with Ja's shoe rep setting up the arrangement.”

Not only did Morant provide the shoes for the teams, but he also imparted some words of encouragement.

“Once we received the shoes, Ja made a point to say some positive words to our guys during a phone call,” Watson recounted. “Our guys may have, otherwise, not been in a position to receive that type of encouragement from a player of his stature. That was very meaningful and appreciated.”

This is the second time Morant provided an HBCU with his signature shoes. A couple months ago, he gifted pairs of the Nike Ja 1s to Mississippi Valley State, the same school his sister Teniya attends, along with a few other universities.

“A lot of times, the media doesn't show this side,” Watson said of Morant. “This is a great young man doing uplifting work in the community.

Morant recently made his return to the NBA following a 25-game suspension. He's powered his Memphis Grizzlies to a 4-2 record when he's played by averaging 25.2 points, 7.8 assists, and 5.0 rebounds.