Former Molloy star Jaylen Morris gets shot in NBA

Jaylen Morris never dreamed a year ago, while playing basketball for Molloy College, that he’d be guarding Kevin Durant in an NBA game.

Last year, his college career ended in a 97-86 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in the East Coast Conference championship game. On Friday, he was taking on the Golden State Warriors superstar forward along with Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala as a member of the Atlanta Hawks.

“It was surreal,” said Morris, 22, a 6-5 shooting guard who scored a bucket while playing 12 minutes on Friday. He scored two points in 11 minutes of floor time against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday in his big-time debut, a 107-102 victory. “I never thought I’d be in the NBA, at least not this soon.”

“Scoring my first basket was eye-opening,” Morris said. “My first points on the biggest stage in basketball . . . I thought to myself, wow I just scored a point in the NBA, but I can’t celebrate because I have to get back on defense.”

As for playing against Durant and the Warriors, Morris said he took it in stride.

“You just have to make things tough for them,” he said.

The Hawks host the Suns on Sunday and travel to Toronto and Indianapolis before Morris’ 10-day deal expires. Atlanta can then sign him to another 10-day deal, sign him to a standard NBA deal or return him to Erie, their G League affiliate.

A number of developmental league players have made the leap, including former Brooklyn Net guard Yogi Ferrell, who was signed to a multiyear deal by the Dallas Mavericks after acquiring him from the Long Island Nets.

Morris was a member of the Erie BayHawks G League team on Monday when he learned of his promotion to the NBA, coming after a roster spot opened when the Hawks parted ways with veteran forward Ersan Ilyasova.

He signed a standard 10-day deal on Wednesday before the Pacers’ game in Atlanta.

“From the beginning when I saw him play, what struck me was how fundamentally sound he was,” said Molloy coach Charlie Marquardt when the son of his assistant coach, Pat Morris, decided to play for the Lions after coming out of St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in Buffalo.

“The knowledge he has of the game and his athletic ability has always separated him from other players.”

Pat Morris said his son wasn’t heavily recruited. “So his mother decided he should come to Molloy as a student athlete. We put him through the process. He created film and coach checked him out. He wasn’t going to be taken on because he was my son.”

Morris was a standout at Molloy, where he graduated as the fourth-leading scorer in school history with 1,619 career points and was a two-time All-ECC selection, a third-team member as a junior and first-team as a senior. He scored 42 points in a game against Mercy College and averaged 19.9 points per game his senior year. But still he did not imagine that he would be on an NBA roster the following year.

“The plan was to just keep working on my game so that I could continue playing basketball,” Morris said. “I just learned to trust the process, and then I got the G League opportunity.”

Morris played his final game for Molloy on March 5, 2017. By October, he was selected in the second round of the G League draft by the Erie, Pennsylvania, affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks. Until his call-up, Morris had started all 39 games for the club this season, averaging 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists.

“Playing in the G League definitely prepared me for this opportunity,” Morris said. “I worked with the coaching staff day in and day out. The biggest difference between the G League and the NBA is the speed and physicality. And obviously the talent.”

Making the most out of his 10-day contract means developing an understanding of what it means to not just be in the NBA, but to stay in the NBA.

“The mentality is different. Everyone around me is constantly working on their game, so that just tells me that if I continue to work and get better every day, then I have a chance to make it,” Morris said. “Learn from my coaches, be aggressive, and just play the game I always have.”

With Desiree Mathurin