Sports commentator Stephen A Smith on ESPN has been a long-time New York Knicks fan, so it makes sense for him to say RJ Barrett of the Knicks is better than Zion Williamson of New Orleans Pelicans and Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies, though he said it in a sarcastic way on ESPN's "NBA Countdown" show on May 14.

"Between Zion Williamson's body and Ja Morant's stupidity, RJ Barrett might end up being the best pick... Morant has already been suspended for eight games, cost himself, forfeited over $600,000. You know what the biggest issue is? It's self-inflicted. It was his Instagram post that exposed the initial situation with him holding a gun," Smith said.

The matter he was referring to was that Morant was seen holding a gun during his friend's livestream on Instagram last week. It was the second time the Grizzlies' rising star did so in two months. He was suspended for eight games without pay the last time. Moreover, it likely has something to do with Morant's failure to be selected into the All-NBA Teams this season. As a result, he lost some $40 million in salary.

After the second video, the Grizzlies posted on Twitter, "We are aware of the social media video involving Ja Morant. He is suspended from all team activities pending League review. We have no further comment at this time."

Former NBA player Chandler Parsons called for the NBA to suspend Morant for the entire 2023-24 season.

As for Williamson, whose halo continued to fade since he entered the NBA in 2019, he only played 114 games in four seasons and missed the 2021-22 campaign completely because of injuries. He signed a five-year, $193 million maximum rookie extension with his team in 2022 summer, just like Morant did with the Grizzlies. Meanwhile, like Morant, Williamson failed to make it grow to $231 million as he wasn't an All-NBA Team selection in any of the four past seasons.

Williamson, Morant and Barrett were all drafted in 2019 by their teams with the first-, second- and third-overall picks. Morant became the Grizzlies' ace from the second season, became a two-time All-Star and was selected into the All-NBA Second-Team in 2022. Williamson, though missed a lot of games, was a two-time All-Star as well, and was obviously dominant when he could play.

By contrast, Barrett was not in either of the All-NBA Rookie Teams, not to mention any other honor. His four-year contract extension of $120 million is much smaller than the deals of Morant and Williamson. Though he has averaged 18.1 points per game in the past four seasons, he has been blamed for low efficiency, lack of shooting range and his incomplete skills set.

However, at least Barrett has played at least 77.8 percent of the Knicks' regular season games in each of the past four seasons and stayed away from any off-court trouble. It seems consistency does beat talent, when talent cannot be translated into actual performance on the court.