De’Aaron Fox and Ja Morant are both uniquely talented young point guards, leading their teams to new heights. Who has the claim to best in the West?
It’s hard not to be caught putting De’Aaron Fox and Ja Morant next to each other. Fox is two years older and two years deeper into his NBA career. But they have similar builds, play with similarly kinetic styles and lead two of the best young teams in the Western Conference, teams whose hypothetical windows of contention appear to be opening.
Statistically, there isn’t a ton of space either. Their career shooting percentages are almost identical, although Morant has averaged a few extra points and assists, both this season and over his entire career. Both create similar amounts of offense for themselves and neither is a particularly reliable 3-point threat. Morant drives a bit more often, Fox is far more efficient and productive with his drives.
On defense, they average a similar number of impact plays — steals and blocks — per 100 possessions, although Morant’s tend to be more of the highlight variety. FiveThirtyEight’s all-in-one metric, RAPTOR, estimates Morant to be a slightly positive defender, Fox to be slightly negative. ESPN’s RPM estimates similar ranges but has the impacts flipped — Fox as the positive, Morant as the negative. Both players have tremendous defensive upside but they’re limited by strength and the requirements of their offensive roles.
I also think there’s a strong argument to be made that having the two players swap faces wouldn’t materially affect either player’s box score stats or their team’s records this season.
So what IS the difference between De’Aaron Fox and Ja Morant?
Recently some two-year-old comments from Amin Elhassan were recycled, about the idea that Ja Morant is who De’Aaron Fox “thinks” he is. It’s brought the comparison back to the forefront and I think, from the details above, whatever difference exists between them is mostly about aesthetics.
Both players are physical marvels, fast and explosive, often appearing to be playing the game at a different speed than everyone else on the floor. They can summon more power and strength than seems possible from their slight frames. But Morant is physically loud in a way that Fox isn’t. His explosiveness broadcasts, probably both intentionally and unintentionally, his dominance in a way that Fox doesn’t seem too.
I think that’s probably what Elhassan was thinking about the time, seeing the forest of Morant handling himself like the best player on the floor at all times, and missing the trees of Fox and Morant not being all that different at a functional level.
I’m not revisiting this idea to make any particular point about Fox or Morant, but more to point out the ways in which form can still so often obscure function in NBA evaluation. The way players look, the way they carry themselves, the way they move on the floor and rise above it. These things matter. They matter in conversations about what’s interesting, what’s fun, what brings joy and what’s worth watching. They are worth unpacking on their own. But they don’t really matter in conversations about which player is better.
To the question of who is the best young point guard in the Western Conference, my answer is — who cares, enjoy them both.
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