NBA: Ranking the top 10 players at the one-month mark of the season

9. Ja Morant – Memphis Grizzlies

NBA players are people just like the rest of us, and even though they are capable of things most of us can only dream of, they still have the same human tendencies that we do. This includes a propensity to respond to certain incentives in a manner that will benefit them individually.

This is very apparent in the NBA when it comes to players in their contract years, i.e. the season before you can sign a contract extension/they become a free agent. NBA players want to secure the bag just like the rest of us, and the NBA offers one of the biggest bags in sports. Players regularly raise their game in a contract year to maximize the probability that they will get the contract they think they deserve.

Ja Morant is now in the third year of his rookie deal, which means he is eligible to sign a contract extension in the summer of 2022. He will be looking for a max contract and the way the max is calculated is by whether he makes one of the All-NBA teams at the end of the season.

Morant has taken his game to another level this year. His scoring has increased from 19.1 PPG to 26.5 PPG and is hitting a career-high FG% (48.8%). This is mainly due to his amazing athleticism and finishing that allows him to get the rim at will without mercy.

Memphis is currently 7-7, which isn’t amazing, but there’s no doubt Morant has been one of the stars of the season thus far. It would be very surprising if Memphis didn’t offer him everything he wanted next summer.