Morant In Rare Company

Murray State Star is NBA Rookie-of-the-Year

(St. Louis, MO) – Ja Morant is the NBA rookie-of-the-year. He won the Association’s award in a land slide and became just the fourth mid-major player to win the award in the past 40 years.

The Murray State star and former Ohio Valley Conference ‘Player of the Year’ put together a brilliant rookie season. He averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 assists per game and racked up three ‘rookie-of-the-month’ awards. Morant led all NBA rookies in scoring, assists, double-doubles and triple-doubles. His assist numbers are the best in Memphis Grizzlies’ history.

Joining Bird, the Admiral & Dame

Morant joins Indiana State’s Larry Bird (1980), Navy’s David Robinson (1989) and Weber State’s Damian Lillard (2013) as the only mid-major players to earn the rookie award over the past 40 years. Lillard is currently one the NBA’s most prolific scorers and Bird and Robinson went on to post hall-of-fame careers.

While Morant’s Murray State career lasted just two seasons, the Racers racked up 54 wins, two NCAA Tournament appearances and one March Madness victory. During his final season at MSU Morant led the nation in assists and his two-year assist total (532) set a Racer career record.

Ironically, another mid-major product, Miami’s Kendrick Nunn finished second in the rookie voting. Nunn, played in the Horizon League at Oakland.

Morant chalked up the award to hard work and told TNT that winning the award should give hope to other players that aren’t highly recruited prep players.

“This journey has been rough but, you know, in the end it’s all paying off,” said Morant. “I still have a lot more work to do, but for guys, kids who are not heavily recruited right now, this gives them hope.”

Way back in 2017 we told you Morant would be the OVC’s Next Big Thing.

Like Morant, this year’s ‘Coach of the Year’ is from a mid-major conference. Toronto’s Nick Nurse is a former player and assistant coach at the Missouri Valley Conference’s Northern Iowa.

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