NBA superstar Ja Morant is making headlines for gifting his unreleased Nike Ja 1s to multiple schools, including Mississippi Valley State University. Morant's younger sister, Teniya, is a freshman on the Devilettes women's basketball team.

Morant is also providing shoes for three other schools: Radford University, Murray State University, and the University of Memphis.

The two-time All-Star also has personal ties to the other recipient schools. Morant attended Murray State and gained national attention in 2019 as he led the Racer's to their first win in the NCAA tournament since 2012. One of his former assistant coaches on that 2018-19 staff, Shane Nichols, is now an assistant at Radford. From there, Morant was selected No. 2 in the NBA Draft to the Memphis Grizzlies, which explains his tie to the university.

Radford, Murray State, and Memphis will all receive the same color way of the Nike Ja 1s. MVSU, however, will acquire a special edition of an unreleased color way. The shoe will start out at $110, the most affordable in Nike's signature shoe catalogue.

Though the NBA season starts on Oct. 24, Morant will n0t debut with the rest of his Grizzlies teammates. Morant is serving a 25-game suspension primarily due to his IG Live streams, where viewers caught him with a firearm.

The Grizzlies' first regular season game is slated for Oct. 25. The Southwest division champs will begin at home against the New Orleans Pelicans, led by the explosive Zion Williamson. NBA fans should expect Morant to debut at the end of December, likely against the Atlanta Hawks on Dec. 23 which is the Grizzlies' 26th game of the season.