Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies have arrived, and everyone's hearing about it

SENSING AN ACROBATIC opportunity, Ja Morant skips with excitement and raises his left hand. He's already calling for a lob as he approaches the 3-point line on the left wing, with Memphis Grizzlies backcourt mate Desmond Bane crossing half court in transition.

Bane picks up his dribble, takes two long strides down the middle of the floor and lofts a pass high over Los Angeles Lakers forward Stanley Johnson in the paint. As Morant launches, every player on the Memphis bench erupts from their seats as the 22-year-old superstar soars to catch the pass, flicks the ball through the hoop and ducks his head to avoid hitting it on the rim.

As the Grizzlies' lead swells to 17 early in the third quarter of the Jan. 9 game, the Lakers call timeout and Morant makes a detour to reply to a front-row fan who taunted him after a turnover the previous possession, several of his teammates strut and celebrate on the Crypto.com Arena court.

But all this Grizzlies fun is too much for LeBron James, who didn't make it past the free throw line in the backcourt during Memphis' latest highlight.

A minute later, a Lakers turnover leads to another fast break for the Grizzlies. Bane swishes a trailer 3 — wide open because James is slow getting back in transition — and lets the all-time great know about it:

«Them footsteps ain't scaring nobody.»

These high-flying and in-everyone's-face Grizzlies — who face the New York Knicks on Wednesday night (7:30 ET on ESPN) — are a tight-knit, young team that is ruffling the feathers of the NBA's old guard. It's a squad with a collective cockiness, a core of players that has yet to win a playoff series but firmly believes it's on the verge of something big.

Their 35-18 record, third best in the NBA, indicates