NBA Draft: 3 Factors Leading to Ja Morant Jump-Starting Memphis Grizzlies’ Rebuild

The Tanking Race

The trio of Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish can end up being the top three picks in this year’s NBA Draft. Given that the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, and the Cleveland Cavaliers currently sit at the bottom of the league, they may very well become home to Duke’s Big-Three on June 20th.

The Atlanta Hawks, who currently project to have the fifth pick ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, have already found their point guard of the future in Trae Young and may look the other way.

If all goes as predicted, Memphis will need the Chicago Bulls to pass on Ja Morant to jump-start its rebuild. For Chicago, Kris Dunn has struggled most of this season and the Bulls have Zach Lavine and Otto Porter Jr. locked in for the future. They are also rightfully high on their frontcourt pairing of Wendell Carter Jr. and Lauri Markkannen. This leaves the point guard position as their potential target in the Draft.

It seems the Bulls may be ready to move on from Dunn. However, the rumors suggest that Chicago may also be after Ricky Rubio and Darren Collison in the NBA Free-Agency market. Chicago’s Front Office has made questionable decisions in the past and it may take one more for the Grizzlies to be the big winner of the 2019 NBA Draft.

So let’s now allow ourselves to think the Memphis Grizzlies got lucky on Draft Day, which would land them the Murray State product, and focus on the type of impact he would have on the current roster.