All season, it’s been all about Zion for NBA teams who will hope the ping-pong balls fall their way in the draft lottery.
But after one game, it’s now also all about Ja.
With one triple-double in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, Murray State guard Ja Morant suddenly grabbed the focus away from Duke forward Zion Williamson for one day.
That doesn’t mean Morant has suddenly leapfrogged Williamson for the top spot in the NBA draft (Morant’s dad — see below — doesn’t agree). Williamson’s size, skill set and explosivity has everyone’s jaws perpetually on the floor. Whoever wins the lottery will absolutely want to roster a player that people like Dick Vitale haven’t ever seen.
But let’s say you’re the New York Knicks. You’ve pinned your hopes on Williamson and any other pick in the lottery would be a disappointing consolation prize. Then, you watch Morant — who was a top-3 lock in most recent mock drafts — completely dominate No. 5 seeded Marquette and suddenly, missing out on the No. 1 pick doesn’t seem like the loss it might have been a few months ago.
The comparisons to Russell Westbrook seem right, and not just because of the triple-double on Thursday. He can get up for huge dunks:
He has range:
And he can dish:
It felt like Zion or bust for tanking NBA teams, with was infinitely tougher because of the league’s new rules that gave franchises with the three worst records the same odds (14 percent) of nabbing the first pick.
Now? They can feel certain one of the top two picks — and maybe it’s three with Williamson’s teammate RJ Barrett — will produce a superstar-caliber player.
