Ja Morant

The 2019-20 Rookie of the Year, Morant's numbers took a step back last season. He ranked 74th in per-game fantasy production as a rookie, with that number dropping to 114th in 2020-21. The main culprit was his decreasing efficiency. All of Morant's shooting percentages fell, with the point guard hitting just 44.9 percent of his field goals and 72.8 percent of his free throws. He's also not a positive in the three-pointers (1.2) or steals (0.9) categories. Obviously, Morant's 19.1 points and 7.4 assists per game were excellent, but his real-life reputation far outweighed his fantasy value last season. That said, it's clear that Morant has what it takes to be an elite point guard. His performances in the play-in games and five playoff contests were fantastic. In his final seven appearances, Morant averaged 29.4 points, 7.6 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 2.4 threes across 41.3 minutes on 48/37/73 shooting. Morant will need to find a way to become a consistent three-point shooter and stat-accumulating defender to make a massive leap as a fantasy player, but he absolutely has the talent to do it. Plus, he's already proven he can be a nightly 30-and-10 threat with a below-average jumpshot. Based on pure upside, Morant will be a popular selection, potentially as high as the third round, but fantasy managers must be cognizant of the holes in his stat profile over his first two NBA seasons.

The 2019-20 Rookie of the Year, Morant had one of the best first-year point guard campaigns in recent memory. Helping carry a team with extremely low expectations, the Murray State product averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 31.0 minutes per game. He also shot well all around, hitting 47.7 percent of his field goals, 33.5 percent of his 2.7 three-point attempts per game and 77.6 percent of his free throws. Morant also supplied an impressive 15 double-doubles and two triple-doubles in his 67 appearances. Now it's up to Morant to build upon increasingly high expectations in 2020-21, which won't be easy in a Western Conference that appears to be as stacked as ever. The rookie finished with a per-game, eight-category fantasy rank of 63 last season, with his most obvious weakness being three-point shooting, where he converted only 0.9 per contest. Morant was also relatively average on defense, combining for 1.2 steals-plus-blocks. Fantasy managers who are banking on those improvements -- or even improvements elsewhere -- will certainly select Morant higher than he was valued last season, and it wouldn't be surprising if his name was trending in the late-third to early-fourth rounds of most drafts.

Morant will presumably take over the Grizzlies' starting point guard spot, which was vacated as a result of the trade of Mike Conley to the Jazz. Morant, the 2018-19 OVC Player of the Year and Consensus All-American, averaged 24.5 points, 10.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals across 36.6 minutes last year with Murray State. He's lauded for his athleticism and playmaking ability, but an underdeveloped jumpshot and tendency to turn the ball over could be a cause of early struggles in the NBA. Rookie point guards can often get off to a rough start, but fantasy owners should be confident that the rookie will have a big role with the Grizzlies right out of the gate, and Memphis is likely to let Morant get plenty of reps considering the team's rebuilding status. Morant makes for a safer pick in points leagues, where a potentially troublesome field-goal percentage and lack of threes won't damage his fantasy value.