“Promiseland”, the documentary on the rookie year by Ja Morant | NBA

Ja Morant’s first season in the NBA was exceptional, and the six episodes of about twenty minutes each of the documentary “Promiseland” (promised land), released earlier this month on the “Crackle” platform, are now here for the call back.

In the space of a few weeks, the basketball world has discovered a potential superstar. Spectacular, author of many brilliant strokes, such as his monumental poster just missed on Kevin Love, his confusing crossover in front of Jerome Robinson, his trashtalking against James Harden but also all these actions where he was “clutch”, Ja Morant has let sweat his rage to win every moment he spent on the field. He thus carried his team to the gates of the 2020 playoffs, a feat that no one saw him achieve at the start of the season.

His family as a basic element of his success

Thanks to the testimonies of coaches from his former Murray State college, but also from Brandon Clarke and Jaren Jackson Jr, young players already important in the Grizzlies’ system, we also understand how much Ja Morant was instrumental in creating a new “identity” in Memphis, close to the “Grit-and-Grind” mindset developed in the early 2010s in the Tennessee franchise.

His mentality was notably shaped by the rough upbringing of his father, Tee Morant. The way in which he draws his determination and resource himself with his family is also well transcribed in the documentary directed by Dexton Deboree.

“The way he behaves off the pitch echoes in such a powerful way the pillars of his parents, his community, his family, and all those bases that have been instilled in him.”, said the director.

From his first All-Star Game weekend in Chicago, his meeting with Barack Obama, the discovery of his teenage room with posters of LeBron James on the wall, his fight for social justice, the birth of his daughter until ‘As rookie of the year, it’s all there.