BREAKING: Former Crestwood standout Ja Morant officially declares for NBA draft

It’s official.

Murray State point guard and former Crestwood High School standout Ja Morant announced he would forego his last two seasons with the Racers and declare for the NBA draft on Wednesday night in a special ceremony in Murray, Kentucky.

“First off I would like to thank everybody for coming out tonight,” Morant said. “First I would just like to thank God for blessing me and allowing me to play the game of basketball. I’d like to thank my coaches, my teammates, managers, advisors, fans; just everybody for everything y’all have done for me. Talking with my family, I just, we decided that I would be declaring for the 2019 NBA draft.”

It was a decision that didn’t come lightly for Morant.

“After the season, me and my parents just took some time and talked over everything,” Morant said. “It took a lot of time but this is one of the decisions that we felt like was best for me and today I made that decision.”

Murray State head coach Matt McMahon is excited for Morant and had nothing but praise for him.

“This is a special day, obviously, for Ja and his wonderful family,” McMahon said. “It’s a historic day for Murray State University. Going back over three years now from when we started recruiting Ja and his family, it’s just been an absolute joy and a privilege to watch his journey unfold. He’s a winner, a relentless competitor, he’s incredibly unselfish; he’s a great teammate who makes everyone around him better, and on top of everything he has great character and humility.”

McMahon is also excited for what the future has in store for Morant.

“Ja is a once in a lifetime player,” he said. “We look forward to celebrating his many future successes both on and of the basketball court for years and years to come. It’s been an absolute privilege to get to coach you, Ja, an absolute privilege to welcome the Morant family into our family here at Murray State. We wish you the very best and can’t wait to bring Racer Nation to whatever franchise is fortunate enough to draft you in June.”

Morant is expected to be a lottery pick – perhaps a top 5 pick – after bursting on to the college basketball scene during his sophomore campaign with the Racers.

“To be projected that high is just a blessing,” Morant said of potentially being the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft. “Just to be up there with the top players in college basketball. I really don’t look at it as, I guess, being overlooked or anything because it’s number two. I just take it as a blessing and keep working and move on.”

Morant averaged 24.6 points and 10.0 assists per game for Murray State, which went 28-5 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He became the first player in college basketball history to average at least 20 points and 10 assists since assists became an official statistic in the 1983-84 season.

The 6-foot-3-inch point guard also averaged 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals. He shot 50.3 percent from the floor and 81 percent from the free throw line.

Morant is a consensus All-American. He is a first team pick by The Associated Press, the United States Basketball Writers Association, National Association of Basketball Coaches, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated and a second team pick by The Sporting News, NBC Sports, USA Today and Stadium.

Morant is also up for four of the National Player of the Year awards.

The Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, Morant finished the season with 331 assists, the sixth-most in NCAA single-season history. His 331 assists and 808 points are both Murray State single-season records and he set the MSU career assist record in only two seasons.