His rookie season was better than Zion Williamson's and a docuseries will now tell his story

NBA rookies usually don’t deserve documentary treatment.

Ja Morant, one of the league’s bright young stars, wasn’t your typical rookie.

“It was important being my rookie season to tell how my first year was going and went,” Morant told USA TODAY.

Morant, 21, in his second season with the Memphis Grizzlies, has a story to tell. Unheralded as a high school player, neglected by the Power Five universities and lightly recruited by most Division I programs, Morant played at Murray State where he blossomed into one of the top college players and a lottery pick in the 2019 NBA draft.

Morant decided to pursue a documentary because, “I felt some things that weren’t told. I have a lot of people here throughout the journey who are in the documentary,” he said.

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Those people include his mom, Jamie; dad, Tee; grandma, Sandra Dawson; AAU coach, Bryan Brown; and Murray State coach Matt McMahon among others.

“I wanted to get different voices to tell what we’ve been through, and what I’ve been through to get to this point,” he said.

The Morant documentary, 'Promiseland,' will debut June 3 on Crackle. It is a six-part series created and directed by filmmaker Dexton Deboree, founder of Falkon.

Deboree made the documentary 'Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1,' a story about the original Air Jordan 1 basketball shoes.

Morant’s first year in the NBA was anything but usual. COVID-19 caused the league to suspend the season in March, and the NBA resumed in the Orlando bubble four months later. Morant scored 35 points in a loss against Portland in the play-in game. Though the Grizzlies didn't make the playoffs, Morant left his imprint on the season, averaging 17.8 points and 7.3 assists.

The tumult of COVID and social and racial activism also had an impact on Morant, who became a father just before the start of the season.

“Overall, it was a good experience, but it was also tough with COVID and things that were going on outside of basketball with the world,” he said of his rookie season. “It helped me grow into a better person. I came out better."

While Morant went from relative unknown in high school to the No. 2 overall pick in short time, it wasn’t an overnight success.

Morant worked at becoming a better basketball player with his dad, Tee, on a no-frills outdoor concrete court in Sumter, South Carolina. Sometimes, the training methods were unorthodox. The workout sessions were long and intense, and Tee was relentless, constantly pushing his son. Over time, Morant began to understand the importance of that hard work. “He’s going to push you to your limits. He’s not going to let you quit,” Ja says in the documentary.

Some of that is captured in episode one, which focuses on the Morant’s early days as a basketball player (“I probably had a basketball in Ja’s hands two, maybe 3 years old,” Tee says in the episode), his development as a youth and his rise at Murray State.

Morant used slights as motivation, and the intro to episode one plays an audio clip of ESPN's Stephen A. Smith saying he doesn't view Morant as a player who can be successful at the next level.  

In his second NBA season, Morant is headed toward All-Star territory. He averages 19.1 points, 7.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds, and the Grizzlies are 32-32 – in line for a play-in game as either the eighth, ninth or 10th seed.

“We’re continuing to get better, continuing to grow together,” Morant said. “We know we have a bright future together and we’re trying to make a push to achieve our team goals.

“We can’t look too forward ahead and just get better each and every day. As long as we continue to work, there’ll be a lot of good coming from this Memphis Grizzlies team."