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NBA ALL-STAR 2020

February 14, 2020

Ja Morant

Chicago, Illinois - Rising Stars

Q. What does it mean to you to play here in Chicago?
JA MORANT: I feel like everybody knows this is a special place. I'm just here to enjoy the weekend, a special weekend for a lot of the guys, rookies, and just have fun.

Q. What are you most excited about for this weekend?
JA MORANT: Playing in the Rising Stars game tonight. I have two of my teammates in it. It's a special moment for the three of us and also the Grizzlies, and we're looking to represent.

Q. You can say throughout your career that you bet on yourself to get to this point today, in high school or college or something where you can say, I'm glad I did that?
JA MORANT: I always had confidence in myself. I always felt like I was good enough. It's just whether colleges thought I was. I just had to focus on what I had to do, and that's just going out and playing.

Q. How do you lead this team all the way to the top eight?
JA MORANT: We're not worried about who's betting against us or not betting with us. We just go out and keep proving people wrong. They had us at the bottom of the league, and now we're an eight seed.

Q. If there was a skill you could steal from a current All-Star, what would it be?
JA MORANT: Probably somebody's height.

Q. How would you rate your season so far?
JA MORANT: I feel like the first half of this season has been decent for me. Always room for improvement, but me and my teammates are just going to keep going out each and every night to try to get better and come out with wins.

Q. What's your advice to younger guys?
JA MORANT: Just keep pushing. Keep God first, and everything will play out.

Q. How does that work for you?
JA MORANT: It's just believing in myself and know that God has a plan for me, and that plan will come eventually.

Q. What was your first ever pair of basketball sneakers?
JA MORANT: I don't know. I was too young.

Q. What do you think Kobe Bryant's legacy is when it comes to basketball sneakers?
JA MORANT: I mean, his is one of the top sneakers to ever be played in. I'm a big fan of them. I've got a lot. I just don't want to wear them no more now.

Q. Is there a favorite pair that sticks out to you?
JA MORANT: No, I don't have a favorite pair.

Q. In tonight's game, you, Zion, Trae, do you feel like that is the future of the NBA?
JA MORANT: I feel like we have a lot of young talent. That's why a lot of us are in this game tonight, just showing the guys who are coming up in this league to be top players.

Q. What do you think 20 years from now, what are we going to see?
JA MORANT: I mean, I can't speak for everybody else, but me personally, I don't look in the future. I focus on the present, and I feel like the future depends on what I do now. So right now I'm just continuing to try to get better.

Q. Speaking of, what do you feel your team needs in the second half of the season to make it to the playoffs?
JA MORANT: I feel like we're in a good position right now. Just can never be satisfied, got to keep going.

Q. Any special adjustments?
JA MORANT: No.

Q. What's been your favorite part of the first half of the year?
JA MORANT: Just going out. I mean, it's my first time playing in the NBA. I'm a rookie. Just the experience, being able to go out each and every night with my teammates and play.

Q. Are you ahead of where you thought you would be? What would you say about your own judgments of your own progress?
JA MORANT: I feel like I'm good. Like I said, I've always got confidence in myself.

Q. Anybody that you think of now, sitting on this stage, where you play in All-Star Weekend that you sort of patterned your game after growing up?
JA MORANT: No.

Q. How did you get here?
JA MORANT: I mean, there's a lot of hard work. I did a lot of stuff. Just let my daddy call the show, and I just did whatever he told me to do. I felt like he knew what it takes, and obviously it worked.

Q. What's a play you do with Brandon Clarke?
JA MORANT: It just changed recently. I threw him an alley last game, and he had a poster dunk and missed it. I've been joking with him, like, yeah, you don't want to make SportsCenter.

Then the same game, I came down late attacking the rack, and instead of like dunking it, I passed it out for a three, and he started picking with me saying, you don't want to make SportsCenter. So just the jokes and stuff we have throughout the game.

Q. Do you ever talk about you're jealous that he gets the attention?
JA MORANT: No, it's not jealousy at all. He's getting attention, but he's not necessarily in the background, and we love him in Memphis. I'm pretty sure his name will get out there more soon.

Q. Where does the Ja Morant energy come from? You look like you have a ton of fun out there.
JA MORANT: What I had to go through to get to this point. I'm pretty sure everyone knows my story now, just me playing with that chip on my shoulder.

Q. What do you like about Chicago so far?
JA MORANT: I didn't tour. My favorite right now is being here for All-Star Weekend.

Q. What's your favorite pair of sneakers?
JA MORANT: The Nike Adapts.

Q. What are your thoughts on Trae Young?
JA MORANT: Definitely, he's a great player. I'm a big fan of his game. He does so much for his team out on the floor that you don't see most guys do. Especially me being a young age and me coming in as a rookie, just seeing his rookie season and how he backed it up with his second season is crazy. I'm just looking forward to proving myself like he's doing right now.

Q. Watching Kobe growing up, what's your favorite memory?
JA MORANT: I'm a big Kobe fan. I grew up watching him. Just a special guy all around. Most people know him as a player, but I mean, if you get to know him off the court, it makes it even better just to see how great of a person he actually is.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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