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t was hard not to see, and to feel, the joy. To judge from the swell of sound at the end of the Memphis Grizzlies’ last-second win over the New Orleans Pelicans, as cries of “Defense!” gave way to a low roar, it was hard even for some in the opposing New Orleans crowd. Joy is infectious, and it tends to spread when Ja Morant is on the court. Earlier this month, during his first game back after a twenty-five-game suspension from the N.B.A., Morant puffed on an inhaler, then gave his team life, scoring twenty-seven of his thirty-four points in the second half, including the two that won the game. Loping up the court, with seconds left and the score tied, he lowered his dribble to face off against Herb Jones, the New Orleans Pelicans’
standout defender. He sped up, feinted, and spun as he drove into Jones, then he flew into the space that his spin had created. Midair, he switched the ball from his right hand to his left, then floated it toward the basket as he fell back to earth. The shot dropped through the hoop, the buzzer sounded, his teammates surrounded him and celebrated. Morant flashed a smile.
Basketball is a joyful game. Some of that joy derives from spontaneous collaboration—think of the extemporaneous ball passing of the recent Golden State Warriors dynasty, or of the San Antonio Spurs a decade ago, or the Lakers and Celtics a couple of decades before that. But there is also the joy of watching one man fly free. No one flies like Morant.
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Morant is twenty-four years old. A few years ago, he was an unheralded small-college recruit from a tiny town in South Carolina. He was small and seemed smaller, with a left arm longer than his right. But he had springs for legs, and he became an N.C.A.A. sensation, then the second pick in the N.B.A. draft. Success only sped up from there: he was Rookie of the Year, then the face of the Grizzlies, then the new face of the N.B.A. By 2022, his third season in the league, he was starting in the All-Star game. In April, Nike released Ja Morant signature shoes. Other N.B.A. players look superhuman; Morant looks like a regular man until he jumps. Then it seems, during that long time in which he rises, as if he might not come down.
