Memphis Grizzlies: Ja Morant’s highlight-filled 2020-21 season review

The Memphis Grizzlies‘ season came to an end on Wednesday after a disappointing blowout loss against the Utah Jazz in game 5. That said, nobody really expected the Grizzlies to take the team with the best record in the league to five games.

You could even take a step back. Nobody expected this Memphis Grizzlies team to be anywhere close to where they are now.

Without Jaren Jackson Jr., the team’s best defender and second-best overall player, the Grizzlies were projected by some to finish in last place in the Western Conference Standings. But they pressed on.

A large part of this team’s success can be traced to Ja Morant, who really took a big step forward in his second season in the NBA. In just a few short games at the end of the season, he elevated himself to star status.

Memphis Grizzlies PG Ja Morant elevated his game while leaving room for improvement

As mentioned, Ja Morant’s season wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. For a long stretch of the year, he was playing extremely inconsistent basketball, unable to get into a groove.

During that time, Jonas Valanciunas was stepping up as the best player on the team. In fact, if you’re a Grizzlies fan who watched most of the games this year, you know as well as anybody that JV could be considered the MVP for the middle stretch of 2021.

That said, Ja Morant stepped into a groove to finish out the year, taking control over his team in the play-in tournament and NBA Playoff series against the Utah Jazz.

Specifically, though, how did he perform on each end of the floor?