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The 2019 NBA Draft will always be remembered as the year of Zion Williamson. At six-foot-seven
and filled to the brim with explosive athleticism, the young forward has been the consensus No.
1 pick all season long. But while Williamson’s success or failure will be inextricably linked
to this draft, there is a player likely to be selected right after Williamson that will
be continuing a notable legacy in his own right: six-foot-three point guard Ja Morant.
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Thanks to a standout sophomore season at Murray State University, Morant has experienced a
meteoric rise up draft boards. The young point guard is quite clearly the most enticing prospect
behind Williamson. By being selected with the second overall pick, Morant will also
be accomplishing another notable feat.
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Since 2009, the NBA lottery has historically been littered with guards hailing from traditional
high-major powers in the NCAA. By being drafted second overall, Morant will become the highest
ranking member of a select group of guards -- seven to be exact -- who have heard their
names called during the first 14 picks of the draft despite spending their college career
outside the NCAA’s power conferences.
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Given how the basketball landscape has changed in the past ten years, it’s quite an accomplishment
for a mid or low major guard prospect to wind up in the lottery -- much less become the
No. 2 pick. Between a pro-like A-A-U circuit, intensive and expensive youth basketball scouting,
YouTube highlight reels and elite summer camps hosted by major shoe companies like Nike,
Adidas or Under Armour, it’s become nearly impossible for players with elite talent to
slip through the cracks.
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Yet Morant didn’t wind up at North Carolina, Kentucky or Michigan State. Instead he landed
at Murray State. Rising from this relative obscurity to such draft heights is quite notable,
but it doesn’t guarantee success. The results of six other guards drafted from similar situations
in the lottery have been something of a mixed bag.
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Those looking for the most optimistic view of Morant’s future need to look no further
than current NBA mega-stars Steph Curry and Damian Lillard. In 2009, Curry was selected
seventh overall out of Davidson University. He’s since gone on to win three NBA championships,
two MVP awards and appear in six All-Star games. Lillard, drafted sixth overall in 2012
out of Weber State University, is no slouch himself. The Portland Trail Blazer’s franchise
player has won the NBA Rookie of the Year, appeared in four All-Star games and was named
First Team All-NBA in 2018.
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Yet another success story from this small-school club is actually Lillard’s current teammate;
CJ McCollum. Taken with the ninth pick in 2013 out of the Patriot League’s Lehigh
University, McCollum hasn’t reached the heights of Curry or Lillard but he’s become
of the league’s most feared scorers. After initially struggling his first two years in
the NBA, McCollum has averaged at least 20.8 points per game in each of the past four seasons.
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#### ***Photo source/s; [1](https://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/c07_davidson_28_19715253-e1521652448858.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1), [2](https://dbukjj6eu5tsf.cloudfront.net/sidearm.sites/weberstate.sidearmsports.com/images/2017/8/26/1DX23044.jpg), [3](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/06/25/1372218775000-USATSI-6103848-1306252355_16_9.jpg?width=3200&height=1680&fit=crop)***

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