The Ja Morant era

He might have to share it, but there's nothing stopping him now.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

What no one tells you is that debates over “the face of the league” and definitionally important players are only partly about performance and on-court success. There’s a healthy dose of style, personality and how a player captures the current moment in culture involved. LeBron James was the unquestioned best player in the world for a decade. He was also a reflection, in many ways, of the attitudes of the time: an avatar for the Obama presidency that coincided with LeBron’s peak. LeBron was also, of course, one of the coolest players ever doing amazing and cool things on the court.

I think Tim Duncan is a top-5 player all-time. There’s no “Tim Duncan era.” He was dominant for a decade plus, but was legitimately anti-aesthetic, both in play and off-court personality, for the bulk of his career. Allen Iverson was never the best player in the world, but I think you can trace an Iverson Era, at least one that overlaps with the Kobe Era at the start of the millennium. Iverson’s performance in addition to his off-court persona and impeccable trendsetting (on and off the court) captured the imagination of the NBA fandom beyond Philly.

We’re in a bit of a muddled era (as has been discussed ad nauseum on NBA Ratings Twitter) — is it the dying embers of the LeBron Era? Is it still the Steph Era, which I would argue is a slightly more expansive Warriors Era? Is the Giannis Era? Is it the Durant Era? Is it the … Jokic Era? I would propose that we are entering the Ja Morant Era with immediate acknowledgement that this could very well be the start of the Luka Doncic Era, too.

I’m confident most GMs would take Luka over Ja if given the chance right now. Neither is a good defender, but Doncic has size there and so long as Morant is his size and flies through the air with his regularity there were be fear about sustainability.

That said, the way that Morant attacked the Warriors’ No. 2 ranked defense on Tuesday night — albeit a defense without Gary Payton II, injured on a dirty play by Dillon Brooks early — was simply incredible and so aesthetically pleasing. It was the type of action that kids are going to emulate, or try to emulate, much like they emulated Steph’s shooting a few years ago. Thousands of kids all over the country working on their floaters with “Whoop That Trick” in the earbuds.

I said earlier this season that Morant is clearly the coolest active player, and maybe the coolest since Iverson. A.I. himself has essentially annointed Morant as his successor. The good news is that Ja is much more than merely cool: he’s legitimately great, too.

The Warriors are an excellent, excellent team, a true title contender. The Warriors were up four with four minutes left, up 1-0 in the series on the road, with a chance to put their foot on the Grizzlies’ necks. Steph (three titles, two MVPs) was on the floor. Klay Thompson (three titles, considers himself a top-75 player all-time) was on the floor. Draymond Green (three titles, six All-Defense teams) was on the floor.

And what did Ja do? He personally outscored the Warriors — those Warriors — 15-6 to close the game. Fifteen points in four minutes to get the lead and close out a playoff game against a three-time champion at age 22. Run it back: 15 points in four minutes to get the lead and close out a playoff game against a three-time champion at age 22.

After missing a potential game-winner in Game 1, Morant didn’t miss anything in crunch time here. Twisting layups that left his defender asked for directions, check. Buttery floaters, check. Free throws, check. And the coup de grace, in my opinion, the shot that gave Memphis the lead: a stepback three over Klay. And in a LeBronian moment of lorebuilding, he said he couldn’t see out of his left eye the whole span.

Ja has It, that’s been clearly for a while now. To perform like this on the biggest stages and to win, that’s something else. The combination of style, production and success is unmatched by any other young player. If Morant shares the spotlight for the next decade with Luka, it’ll be because the latter is winning MVPs and/or championships. Healthy and with a team around him, Luka can win games like this too. We’ve seen it. Ask the Clippers. We need to get Ja and Luka in the playoffs sometime soon. This year’s unlikely; the Suns are simply too good.

Speaking of which, Devin Booker might have something to say about this next era, too. He’s older than Ja and Luka, and different as an heir-of-Kobe off-guard vs. a lead guard. But he has the requisite amount of juice and panache to be in these conversations. And you can’t rule out other players either: Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball. The future of the league is the present of the league, and it’s in good hands.