Memphis' Ja Morant Wins Rookie of the Year Award

For a short while, There was a debate as to who should win this season's Rookie of the Year. For a while. 

This season's National Basketball Association (NBA) Rookie of the Year race had been between the top two picks in the 2019 NBA Draft: Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans, and Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies. In the end, Morant took the award while Williamson finished third in the race.

The NBA on Friday (Manila time) officially named Ja Morant as the 2019-2020 Kia Rookie of the Year beating Willaimson and Kendrick Nunn of the Miami Heat. Morant became just the second player in franchise history to be named best freshman after Pau Gasol won in the 2001-2002 season. 

The voting result saw Morant receiving 99 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportscasters and broadcasters, and finishing with 498 points. The lone voter who didn't give a first-place vote to Morant gave it to Williamson which made Morant want to figure who that person was. "I need to figure out who was that person who didn’t pick me first. I want to shoot a direct message to them and thank them for motivating me, even more, to do more and be better and do whatever I can to help my team win basketball games. If anyone knows who that is, Let me know," he said upon learning of the result.

Nunn was in a distant second with 204 points while Williamson could only manage 140 points. 

Players were evaluated from the start of the season until March 11, 2020. In that span of time, Morant led all qualified rookies in scoring (17 points), assists (six assists), and field goal shooting (49%) in 59 games. He joined LeBron James and Nikola Jokic as the three players who averaged 17 points, six assists, and shot 49% from the field in that period. More importantly, Ja Morant was honored as the Kia Western Conference Rookie of the Month four times this season. And even though the seeding games in Orlando weren't a factor in the voting process, Morant almost led the Grizzlies into the playoffs- only losing to the Portland Trail Blazers in the play-in game for the West's final playoff berth. 

Photo is from Grizzly Bear Blues