(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Cavaliers got one of the best values in the NBA Draft with the No. 49 pick.
They got Emoni Bates, a former high school sensation that was once considered to be one of the best players in his class.
Bates got himself into some off-court troubles and hurt his draft stock, up to the point where he had to transfer from Memphis to Eastern Michigan before eventually making it to the league.
And now that he’s in the NBA, he admitted that he would’ve rather been taken by the Memphis Grizzlies.
When asked about that, he claimed that it was because of Ja Morant, who he deemed his big brother, via Damichael Cole and NBACentral.
Emoni Bates explains why he was interested in getting drafted by Memphis
“Ja. That’s like my big brother.”
(Via @DamichaelC ) pic.twitter.com/lJsCaOIla5
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) July 11, 2023
Notably, that’s perhaps the last thing he should’ve said at this point.
He’s got some big question marks over his head because of his off-court behavior, so talking about wanting to play for another team might not be the wisest decision.
Of course, we all hope both Morant and Bates focus on basketball and basketball alone and leave all that stuff behind them.
They have the potential to be two of the faces of the league for years to come, with Morant already at that stage if he can stay out of trouble.
But for that, they both need to stay out of trouble and just hoop.
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