What s going on? A rookie who scored 44 points against the Nuggets, second only to LeBron James, is a fringe player at just 21 years old!

This season has entered a difficult stage for the Grizzlies. Ja Morant is involved in trade rumors and is likely to be sent away by the team before the trade deadline. Jaren Jackson Jr. has also been unable to make satisfactory progress to the team due to his lack of rebounding ability. What's even worse is that the team's current record is very bad. If no timely adjustments are made, it is very likely that it will become a weak team in the Western Conference this year. Therefore, both the players and the team's top management are under increased pressure. After all, the fans have begun to show dissatisfaction.

At the same time, the team's former star of hope scored 14.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in his rookie season, becoming the second youngest player in NBA history to average double figures in a single season after LeBron James. He also faced the Nuggets led by Nikola Jokic, who scored 44 points. GG Jackson has now fallen out of the team's rotation.

You know, this guy was once favored by many Grizzlies fans, but his development was not satisfactory, and his career can be described as high and low. So what exactly did he go through at the age of 21 that led to his current situation? Let us find out below!

Once the number one player in the United States, he jumped to the NCAA.

In the summer of 2022, GG Jackson, who was only a senior in high school at the time, had already been selected as the No. 1 high school student in the United States in the class of 2023. Maybe it seems a bit unbelievable now, but looking back at his performance in high school that year, it is convincing enough. In his sophomore season, he was already able to contribute 15.8 points and 10 rebounds, leading the team to win the South Carolina Class 5A High School League championship. In his senior season, he broke out completely. His average data per game soared to 22.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1 steal and 2.3 blocks. The efficiency was quite terrifying.

With his help, his high school also won the state 5A high school league championship, and he himself was awarded the South Carolina Player of the Year. If he continues to play through his senior season, he has a high probability of becoming the NBA No. 1 pick in the future. The lowest limit is at least the top five picks, which is enough to prove his amazing talent.

But because he was just old enough to enter the NCAA, and he also hoped to enter the NBA faster, he chose to skip a grade to enter the NCAA. At that time, many well-known NCAA schools also contacted him, and even the University of North Carolina had completed its commitment to join him.

However, in the end, he declined North Carolina and stayed in South Carolina, becoming a member of the University of South Carolina. Unfortunately, although he became the core of the team here, averaging 15.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, due to insufficient training in the high school league, his shooting and three-point shooting percentages were only 38.4% and 32.4% respectively. At the same time, he also exposed flaws such as poor passing vision and over-reliance on singles. Therefore, although he had the qualifications to enter the NBA, the draft market at that time fell again and again.

If he continues to stay in the NCAA to hone his skills, he has the opportunity to continue to improve his draft stock, but Jackson can't wait to enter the NBA. As a result, he was not selected until the 15th pick in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft.

got the opportunity with the Grizzlies and quickly began to realize his talent.

Because he was a second-round pick, although Jackson became an NBA player, he only signed a two-way contract with the team and may be eliminated by the team at any time. I have to say that in just 2 years, he has fallen from the top spot in the United States to the fringe of the NBA, which is indeed a bit disappointing.

However, Jackson still has talent, and the NBA has no shortage of examples of second-round picks becoming top players, so Jackson accepted the team's arrangements and began to seek opportunities to prove himself. God seemed to favor this young man on purpose. The Grizzlies encountered a wave of injuries in the 23-24 season, so the team immediately began to suffer. Under this situation, Jackson got a lot of opportunities. Starting from the middle of the season, his appearance The time was significantly improved, and he scored 23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks against the Warriors. Then in the game against the Knicks, he scored another 20 points. His continuous high-scoring performance earned him more and more trust from the team.

After seeing Jackson's outstanding performance, the Grizzlies immediately completed a four-year formal contract extension with him and gave him a starting position in mid-March. He directly scored in double figures in the last 18 games, including 4 games of 30+, including the last game against the Nuggets where he scored 44 points and 12 rebounds.

Throughout the season, he averaged 14.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. After the season, he was selected to the All-Rookie Second Team. It is precisely because of this that he became the second youngest player in the NBA after LeBron James to average double figures in points per game in a single season, and his talent is obvious.

And in the 2024 Summer League, he also showed good dominance, and was eventually selected to the Summer League's best first team. It can be said that his performance in his first season in the NBA was quite amazing.

Frequently suffered from injuries and has now become a marginal player.

However, just when Jackson's career began to go uphill, a turning point occurred. Before the start of the 24-25 season, he accidentally fractured the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. He had to undergo surgery and missed a large number of games in the season. Later, due to unsatisfactory recovery, he did not come back until the middle of the season..

The result was very embarrassing. When he returned to the team, he directly lost his position. He only played 29 games throughout the season, averaging only 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1 assist per game.

In this season, his playing time has shrunk further, reaching 4.7 minutes. He can only appear in garbage time, which means that he has no value in the team. Although he is only 20 years old now, and some teams are interested in him, he is already in the third season of his career. It has to be said that Jackson's career is still quite tortuous. If it were not for injuries, maybe he would be in a different position now.