Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton compared Murray State’s Ja Morant to this NBA legend
The legend of Ja Morant keeps growing.
On the heels of becoming the eighth player to have a triple-double in NCAA tournament history — and the first since Draymond Green in 2012 — the Murray State star received praise across the basketball world.
That included Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, whose alma mater Marquette couldn’t contain Morant on Thursday.
The latest comes from Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, whose team faces Morant and the Murray State Racers in Saturday’s second round of the West region.
Hamilton compared Morant to Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, who guided Michigan State to a national championship, won several NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and is widely considered the best point guard in the history of the sport.
“What I notice is he’s one of the most exceptional players that I’ve had a chance to watch play,” Hamilton told reporters at a press conference in Hartford, Connecticut. “He’s kind of a throwback to guys who have the ability to score points. But also has the passion and the excitement about creating opportunities for his teammates, guys like a Nate Archibald who can lead the NBA in scoring and lead in assists at the same time. A guy like Magic Johnson, who got so much joy making the game easy for his teammates. Even a player like Muggsy Bogues, who has an uncanny way of making things easy for his opponents.”
“My opinion is you have to be careful because he’s not winning the games by himself. He’s surrounding himself with good players who feed off of who he is and what he is about as a player. And I’m excited for him and for their team, because I enjoy watching guys play with such an unselfish spirit, that they actually get excited about it. You can just see the gleam and the joy in his eye. It motivates him.”
Morant’s stat line of 17 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists produced questions among college basketball experts on whether he’ll have a better NBA career than Duke star Zion Williamson, and whether that would warrant him going ahead of Zion as the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
ESPN reported an NBA executive has Morant at No. 2 on his draft board. CBS has Morant at No. 3 behind Williamson and his Duke teammate, RJ Barrett in their latest mock draft.
