LeBron James is never hesitant to give props to young hoopers when they do undeniably insane things on the basketball court. In that spirit, LeBron had high praise for the high ups of burgeoning superstar Ja Morant after the Memphis Grizzlies took down the Los Angeles Lakers, 127-119 on Sunday at Crpyto.com Arena.

Morant only had 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting, plus five boards and seven assists. But his energy was infectious, and his pure athleticism wowed the Crypto crowd (present company included) on more than one occasion.

Specifically, LeBron was asked about Ja's eye-opening rejection on Avery Bradley, which halted a Lakers' transition opportunity and started one for the Grizzlies (at one point, Memphis was outscoring Los Angeles 25-0 in fast-break points).

“It starts with timing. And also just stalking your prey,” LeBron said. “And that's exactly what Ja was doing that whole play. And I seen it happen. Didn't know he was going to do it in that fashion. But, they got rockets in his calf muscles. It was just a spectacular play.”

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel echoed LeBron's sentiment.

“That was a special play from a special player.”

Russell Westbrook was characteristically less charitable in his post-game praise for Morant.

“It was a block,” he said.

Later on, Ja showed off those rocket-calves once again:

It wasn't the first time LeBron has talked up the Grizzlies star.

Morant was buoyed by Jaren Jackson Jr. (21 points, 12 rebounds, six blocks), Desmond Bane (23 points), Kyle Anderson (14 points), among other contributions.

By contrast, the Lakers' lone active superstar was let down by his supporting cast, a development that bucks the recent trend. LeBron was elite — 35 points on 14-of-19 shooting, nine rebounds, and seven assists — but the rest of the Lakers starters went 8-of-39 from the field. In fact, no other Lakers players would have scored in double-figures if not for an admirable garbage time run led by Wayne Ellington (16 points), Austin Reaves (16 points), and Talen Horton-Tucker (13 points).

LeBron's Lakers (21-20) are now 1-3 against Ja's Grizzlies (28-14) this season and trail them by 6.5 games in the Western Conference standings.