Would you rather have Luka Doncic or Ja Morant over the next decade to build a team around? Fifteen scouts and executives from around the NBA were asked to vote on which young guards from a group of 6 (Doncic, Morant, Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Garland) and all but four of the evaluators told Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com that they would want the Mavericks’ young star.
“Luka is by himself,” a West executive said, “a generational talent, while Ja is having an unbelievable season.”
Morant did receive the remaining four first-place votes and 12 of the 15 had the Grizzlies guard in the top-2.
“Ja has shown the ability to take a team to the next level,” a Western Conference scout told Bontemps. “He’s shown great leadership, plus his jump, as far as development, has been pretty remarkable.”
While Morant was the only person besides Doncic to receive any first-place votes, not everyone polled is as bullish on the former No. 2 overall pick.
“It’s weird to say this, but I don’t think [Morant] is quite as good as his public perception,” an East executive said. “If you put Shai on that Memphis team, he could potentially be doing a lot of the same things.”
Darius Garland Behind Other Young Stars?
Garland received the least amount of love, garnering just one third-place vote and the most (10) last place votes.
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