The Stuff That Rivalries Are Made Of: Grizzlies vs Pelicans Part 1

The Grizzlies and Pelicans are two young teams in the NBA's Southwest Division and their two young leaders who traveled down familiar, yet not-so-familiar paths. They both represent the future of the NBA, with skill sets that the league has never seen before. The two are friends going back to their days in AAU, but their friendship could also be the stuff that rivalries are made of.

The two budding superstars, as often stated, both came from South Carolina and played for the same AAU program in high school. Williamson would go on to be a highly heralded recruit who attended Duke University while Morant had a much less acclaimed path as he was unranked in high school before exploding on the scene early in his sophomore season at Murray St. They would go on to be the top two picks in last season's draft and have been at the top of a heavily debated Rookie of the Year race. Many have said that Williamson deserves the Rookie of the Year award over Morant who has been the favorite all season in spite of Williamson only playing in only 19 games this season.

Zion Williamson says Ja Morant has “earned” being Rookie of the Year frontrunner https://t.co/zxmdwiCjXV pic.twitter.com/pS7vSGWORL
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) April 29, 2020

Their friendship that could eventually lead to the two being compared to each other throughout their careers could also be similar to that of Lebron James and then fellow rookie classmate Carmelo Anthony. Ballislife shared a tweet earlier last week in honor of James' and Anthony's long time friendship. The two only met once in the playoffs in 2012 when James was with the Heat and Anthony was with the Knicks.

LeBron x Melo

Brotherhood✊https://t.co/Jo1ltJJPHB
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) May 1, 2020

Morant and Williamson are friends and don't have any animosity towards each other but them being the two of the stars that will be faces of their team and the league as a whole, I am sure that there will be more and more exciting games over the years featuring the two young stars and their two promising teams

- Have you signed up for the AllGrizzlies Community Board? We are trying to create a new place to share posts and have intriguing and fun conversations about all things related to the Memphis Grizzlies! Once you sign up, feel free to post as you like. It is actually the best way to interact with me going forward as well. We will also be looking for group admins as well. See you soon and Go Grizz!

--We also want to know how you all are dealing with the NBA being suspended right now. How are you spending your time while there are no games being played? Post as many things as you can as well as your viewpoint on anything else that's going on with the NBA or the Grizzlies right now!--

- Anthony Sain - Memphis Grizzlies Beat Writer and Lead Editor For Sports Illustrated's All Grizzlies.com

Follow Us On Twitter: @AllGrizzlies @SainAsylum

Turn on the notifications on @AllGrizzlies to get updates on when all of our articles are posted.

Like Us On Facebook: Search: Grizzlies Maven or Sports Illustrated Grizzlies.