Despite being unequivocally one of the best players in the game today, recently Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant found himself falling to 35 overall in ESPN’s latest top-100 rankings list.
A drastic fall from his previous placement in the ninth spot heading into 2022-23, this updated ranking has sparked a tremendous amount of controversy amongst fans and media pundits alike, as there are a slew of individuals placed above the superstar on the list that, frankly, have no right to be.
Though the publication did make it a point to state that his standing was, “in large part” due to his well-documented off-court troubles, this reasoning on its own is still not believed to be good enough to omit Morant from even the top 20 players in the association, let alone the top 30.
Because of this, former NBA Champion Kendrick Perkins stated on a recent episode of NBA on ESPN that the superstar guard needs to show the world “who the hell he is” upon returning from his impending 25-game suspension.
Kendrick Perkins urges Grizzlies star Ja Morant to show off ‘who the hell he is’
"“Look, we know he’s got a 25-game suspension, but guess what, he got to put the world back on notice on who the hell he is. I believe they ranked him number 35 on the ESPN rankings. That’s disrespectful,” Perkins said."
Despite missing 22 games as a result of both health-related issues and suspensions, last season Morant went on to put forth yet another tremendous campaign for the Grizzlies, as he dropped 26.2 points, 8.1 assists (career high), 5.9 rebounds (career high), and 1.1 steals per night on 46.6 percent shooting from the field whilst on his way to his second-straight All-Star nod.
With the point guard leading the charge, Memphis has embarked on three consecutive playoff appearances and has clinched the second-best record in the Western Conference twice over the last two seasons.
Seeing him placed so low on any player rankings list is borderline blasphemous, and Perkins is calling upon the 24-year-old to show with his on-court production just how wrong ESPN was for their decision.
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