It was a whirlwind of a weekend for Memphis Grizzlies star player, Ja Morant, after he posted an Instagram Live of himself holding what appeared to be a gun inside a nightclub. The video clip spread like wildfire across social media, and Glendale Police Department took notice. “We were aware of the incident circulating on the internet involving an NBA player at a nightclub with what appears to be a gun in the early morning hours of March 4, 2023.” They later confirmed that the incident took place inside a bar in Glendale.
After the League also took notice, Morant later owned up to his reckless behavior and apologized, claiming he would “take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress” and his “overall well-being.” His social media accounts were then deactivated.
Stephen A. Smith utilized his platform on ESPN to send a heartfelt message to Morant, and used Allen Iverson’s example as a warning to Ja.
“When you look at Ja Morant, the one thing that I find incredibly alarming, there was s much stuff that Allen Iverson took hits for that had nothing to do with him but everything to do with the company he kept. In this particular instance, that’s Ja on film. That’s Ja you see on the TMZ video, he had no choice but to own that.”
I covered Allen Iverson for the first 10 years of his career. He took a lot of hits for the company he kept.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 5, 2023
Ja Morant’s fault is his own, and I’m proud of him for owning it.
But he needs to get it together. pic.twitter.com/hDqLYNzmUo
Now, with his $193M contract and career on the line, Morant faces uncertainty. The Memphis Grizzlies have already decided to bench their star point guard for a minimum of two games. Today, Grizzlies’ head coach has shared that there is “no timetable” for his return.
This is truly an unfortunate circumstance for a player with superstar potential. It was just a couple of weeks ago that Morant was putting on a clinic during All-Star Weekend!
“We love him. We want what’s best for him. We support him. It’s going to be a difficult process, but we got a great group to get through this.”
Stay tuned in for updates on this developing story..
