Celtics Acknowledge Challenge Surging MVP Nominee Ja Morant Presents
Morant's NBA MVP odds have been slashed down to 10-to-1
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant will enter TD Garden to face the Boston Celtics on Thursday playing as good as anyone in the NBA right now.
Morant is averaging 40-plus points in his last four games including a career-high 52-point night against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. The Celtics know the challenges the dynamic Morant will present when they take the floor, especially given that they will be without Jaylen Brown.
"Got some talented guys, especially a guy like Ja Morant with his talent and ability," Marcus Smart said after Tuesday's win over the Atlanta Hawks, per MassLive.com. "It's going to take all five of us again to be able to maintain him and his team."
Grant Williams added: "He's a dynamic guard. ... He's MVP in my eyes already this early in his career and there's a lot of tremendous respect to him and what he's done."
Morant is averaging 27.6 points, 6.6 assists and 5.9 rebounds this season for the 43-20 Grizzlies. With Morant leading the way, Memphis is the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference behind only the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors.
The statistical highlights don't end there for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, however.
Perhaps best depicting his recent stretch, Morant's NBA MVP odds have been slashed in recent days. Morant, who NESN betting analyst Sam Panayotovich noted was worth a MVP wager at 35-to-1 in late October, has been cut all the way down to 10-to-1 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Morant can be found at 14-to-1 at PointsBet and 12-to-1 at FanDuel after being in the neighborhood of 18-to-1 just last week, according to Action Network.
Incredibly, Morant opened the season at 50-to-1 to win the award.
Morant will be quite the challenge for the Celtics, and specifically fellow NBA All-Star in Jayson Tatum, as the two go head-to-head in what's likely to be a playoff-like contest.
Celtics-Grizzlies will tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET.
