Watch: Ja Morant gifts his Most Improved Player award to Desmond Bane originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Ja Morant recently delivered one of his best assists of the season.
And it came off of the court.
The Memphis Grizzlies point guard was named the NBA's 2021-22 Most Improved Player on Monday. But, rather than keeping the trophy for himself, he gave it to teammate Desmond Bane, who finished fifth in MIP voting.
Get Southern California news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC LA newsletters.
Grind City Media captured how Morant surprised Bane with the award:
Bane did say in the second video to "take this back to 12 [Morant]," so it's unclear if he'll be keeping it. Regardless, it's still an awesome gesture from the face of the Grizzlies franchise.
Bane was certainly a worthy most improved candidate, as he played a key role in Memphis' rise to the NBA's second-best regular-season record.
Sports
Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.
The 2020 second-round pick upped his points per game average from 9.2 as a rookie last year to 18.2 this year, one of the largest leaps in the entire league. He did it in an efficient manner too, shooting 46.1% from the field, 43.6% from 3 and 90.3% from the line.
Bane has continued his impressive sophomore campaign in the first round of the playoffs, leading the Grizz in points per game (23.3) while shooting 48.4% from the field and 48.7% from 3.
