GG Jackson
Though he may have come into his debut campaign in the association as a relative afterthought after dropping to 55 overall on the 2023 NBA Draft board, GG Jackson proved himself to be not only one of the best rookies from his respective class but, frankly, one of the top players overall on the Grizzlies last year.
A primary beneficiary of the club's plethora of injuries, the South Carolina stud received ample run on the hardwood just a few months into his tenure and proved not only to be a quality overall scoring threat but, impressively enough, a league record-breaking one.
Despite playing just 48 games (largely due to constantly revolving in and out the G League as part of his initial two-way agreement), Jackson found himself placing fourth among rookies in points per game (14.6) while also registering 4.1 rebounds and a shooting clip of 35.7 percent from deep on a nightly basis.
.@_ggjackson scoring 44 points, has set the Grizzlies franchise record for most points in a game by a rookie.
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) April 14, 2024
he is your player of the game presented by @IntlPaperCo 👏
rt this to win a prize box - pics in the thread⤵️ pic.twitter.com/xAsSAq4SF3
This offseason, it appears the All-Rookie forward has only managed to continue on with his upward trajectory as he completely dominated the 2024 Summer League by posting averages of 22.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists on 44.8 percent shooting and 37.5 percent shooting from deep while guiding the Grizzlies to the championship round of the tournament and an ultimate record of 5-1.
Should he bring this same productivity into the regular season, having him serve as either the primary small forward or, perhaps more likely, a spark plug off the pine for coach Jenkins' rotation, it could prove to be lethal for opposing teams to deal with, especially considering they'll already have enough on their plate from an offensive standpoint with Morant, Bane, and Trip-J leading the charge.