Did Ja Morant really just challenge Lionel Messi to a 1-on-1?
The Grizzlies star appears to have no concept of the old saying ‘be careful what you wish for.” Hopefully he doesn’t learn the hard way.
Too much of anything is never a good thing and that most definitely applies to confidence. Though the Grizzlies star has good reason to be feeling himself lately, his recent challenge to soccer’s great ever player definitely raised some eyebrows.
2022 was Ja Morant’s year
As one of the NBA’s best young stars - some would say the best - Ja Morant most definitely had himself a break-out year in the league during the 2021-22 campaign. Selected to the All-NBA team as well as the All-Star team, the Grizzlies high flyer was even in with a shout for MVP at some points during the season.
Though injury threatened to derail him at one point, Morant returned to lead his team to the second round of the NBA Playoffs where they were finally put down by the eventual champions Golden State Warriors. This is all to say, that they future is bright for Morant and Co. With that in mind, it makes sense that he’s had a fair share to say in recent times even going on to claim he could beat prime Michael Jordan in a 1-on-1. Yes, that definitely drew some wry smiles. We could point out that he isn’t nearly putting up the kind of numbers that MJ did at that stage in his career, but we will put it down to trash talk. This, however, brings us to his latest declaration and it was a unique one, if not hilarious.
Ja Morant challenges Lionel Messi
On the one hand we have to commend Ja’s mentality of refusing to believe he can be beat, on the other knowing one’s limitations is also an equally valuable quality for any professional athlete or person for that matter. That’s precisely why his challenge to soccer legend Lionel Messi is quite confusing. You read that right, Ja Morant wants to take on the arguable GOAT in soccer in a 1-on-1 session. To be more specifically he wants to goal keep against Lionel Messi.
“I’ll never go and say somebody gon’ beat me 1-on-1. I don’t care what sport it is. Who’s the best player in soccer? We can play. Messi, yeah. That’s pretty cold. I wanna be the goalie. Matter of fact, somebody set it up.” Suffice to say, a 1-on-1 between Morant and Messi would draw a massive amount of attention if only to see if the Argentinian maestro actually took it seriously. With all due respect to Morant’s incredible athletic ability, this is almost certainly a case of biting off more than he can chew. With that in mind, could someone ‘set it up?’