NEW YORK — The NBA announced Sunday the finalists for six awards that honor top performers for the 2021-22 regular season, and two of the Memphis Grizzlies' most important cornerstones were named to those lists.
Grizzlies superstar point guard Ja Morant was named a finalist for the NBA's Most Improved Player award, alongside Cleveland guard Darius Garland and San Antonio's Dejounte Murray.
Ja was named a finalist for the award after a year where he became one of the NBA's most electrifying players.
He scored 27.4 points per game, up more than eight from the previous season, and was named an NBA All-Star starter.
Notably, Ja was not named a finalist for the NBA's MVP award.
Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins was also named a finalist for the Coach of the Year award, along with Miami's Erik Spoelstra and the Sun's Monty Williams.
The Grizzlies tied a franchise record with 56 wins on the season, good enough to secure the #2 seed in the NBA Western Conference playoffs, all while not having a single player on the roster older than 28 years old.
The announcement comes after a disappointing start to the playoffs for the Grizzlies, dropping game one to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 130-117. Ja scored 32 points in the loss.
The Grizzlies will continue their playoff run Tuesday against the Timberwolves for game two, where they'll hope to even the first round series.
