The hardest step up, the most challenging improvement to make in the NBA is from star to superstar.
Ja Morant made that leap look effortless this season, which is why he was voted the NBA’s Most Improved Player for 2021-22. His teammates swarmed him at practice when it was announced.
Big 12 has some new ice @jamorant 🥷 🏆 pic.twitter.com/qa1F14pHEc
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) April 25, 2022
Morant received 38 first-place votes out of the 100 cast (by selected media members), beating out DeJounte Murray and Darius Garland for the award.
Ja Morant is the first player to win the Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award with the Memphis Grizzlies.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 25, 2022
More ➡️ https://t.co/DGowSmohq5
Voting Results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/xRFlJ9dtEW
Shoutout to all the guys who was up for this award, our aim is to always improve. So to be acknowledged for this award lets all of us know we are trending in the right direction. keep working 🙏🏽
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) April 25, 2022
the league is in good hands 💪🏽
Morant averaged 27.6 points and 6.7 assists a game this season. He took on a much larger role in the offense and increased his efficiency, a rare combination. While some tried to argue on Twitter that players in the MVP mix — and Morant was that for the bottom of the ballot — should not win “most improved,” however, most voters use the criteria of voting for the player they believed improved the most, regardless of status. That was Morant this season.
The Warriors Jordan Poole — who has stepped up in the playoffs — finished fourth in the voting, with the Grizzlies Desmond Bane fifth and the 76ers Tyrese Maxey sixth.