Ja Morant Breaks Silence on Carrying a Gun in Instagram Video

[JuicyShaqMeat]

This is a Sports Illustrated article taken from this link

Ja Morant Breaks Silence on Carrying a Gun in Instagram Video
Ja Morant says the gun in his Instagram video was not his.

by Farbod Esnaashari

It's been a little under two weeks since the last time Ja Morant made a statement about carrying a gun in an Instagram live video that resulted in his suspension. Morant sat down in a 1-on-1 interview with Jalen Rose, where he finally spoke at length about the situation.

"The gun wasn't mine," Morant said in an interview with Jalen Rose. "It's not who I am. I don't condone any type of violence, but I take full responsibility for my actions. I've made a bad mistake. I can see the image that I painted over myself with my recent mistakes. In the future, I'm gonna show everybody who Ja really is, what I'm about, and change this narrative."

While the gun in the video wasn't Ja Morant's, he was very happy about holding it in his own Instagram video, which is more so the bigger issue. It will take some time to see whether Morant is sincere in his words, and hopefully, he is. He's too important of a superstar and too important to the future of the NBA to allow something like this to derail his career.

The NBA has officially suspended Ja Morant for eight games after their investigation into him displaying a gun on March 4. That consequence isn't over whose gun it was in the video, it was over him displaying it. It is with the most sincere hope that Ja Morant uses that time to really understand how important he is to his community and surrounds himself with better people.

I intentionally didn't link the video interview between Morant and Jalen Rose here, as I personally think it was insincere and simply a crafted PR stunt. I also think the lack of leadership in Adam Silver and the NBA is more apparent with this issue, adding to the many missteps done since 2014-15. Personally, this incident made me less of an NBA fan.

[mp3]

Iam not sure I believe Ja talking about the gun not being his, this is the 2nd time alone that he not only on IG flashed a gum but it was said that the 17 year old kid after beating him up rolled up on him with a gun tucked into his shorts, that makes it twice for him alone plus the Pacers bus story someone in his click was carrying too so to say he's not about that life I think he's just doing damage control saying the right this, however he is young and we all may mistakes myself including so iam not gonna hate on the guy and hope he puts this behind him

[Andrew]

Hopefully Ja does get on a better path from here on out. He's a talented player, and I understand wanting to be authentic and not maintain a PR-friendly "corporate" image, but he's a professional athlete getting paid a lot of money, with endorsement deals and a lot of eyes on him. If he doesn't want his career to crash and burn due to off-court controversy, he needs to do better and distance himself from stuff like this.

[Jeffx]

Hopefully, he'll drop the gangsta wannabe act, and stop trying to "keep it real". Like I posted in another thread, he has too much to lose, being the face of the NBA plus gaining generational wealth.

[JuicyShaqMeat]

This guy just keeps shooting himself on the foot, no pun intended.

Now he’s suing the teenager he allegedly assualted, for slander:
https://dailymemphian.com/section/sport ... a-holloway

Ja Morant files countersuit against teenager
By Drew Hill, Daily Memphian
Updated: April 13, 2023 7:09 PM CT | Published: April 13, 2023 11:17 AM CT

In new court filings, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant said he is the victim of slander, battery and assault after an alleged fight at his home with a teenager during a pickup basketball game. Morant said the teenager, who previously sued him, could have ended his career by throwing a basketball at his face.

More details on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrewHill_DM/status/ ... 2736553984

Breaking: Ja Morant has filed a countersuit against Joshua Holloway saying he is the victim of slander, assault and battery. The countersuit says that lies from Holloway and leaks of lies to the media have impacted his All-NBA chances.

The countersuit also says that Morant received a “subsequent threat on Snapchat that appeared to be from Counter-Defendant (Holloway).”

The Snapchat provided in Exhibit 1 has text reading “Ja Morant a bitch and if I catch his ass it’s up ”
And
“I’m on that tonight.”

It must be heartbreaking for Grizzlies and Morant fans to see this happening with their superstar. I know I am.

[Andrew]

Between that and wearing the t-shirt talking about a "redemption tour", whoever is handling his PR is doing a terrible job.

[JuicyShaqMeat]

Nobody asked for a sequel on this issue, yet it still came out…

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/statu ... 9821890562

Ja Morant has been suspended from all Grizzlies activities after the Memphis star was seen flashing an apparent gun in recent social media video.

This was posted on reddit some 8 hours ago:
https://streamable.com/9485vn

[Andrew]

Speedrunning that Gilbert Arenas career path.

[mp3]

So much for him being really sorry about the first incident

I think this is worst than Gils problems since Ja is not only an un injured star but this is his SECOND incident after knowing just how serious the first one was

[Andrew]

Higher visibility, too. Social media was obviously around when Arenas was playing and involved in that incident, but it's a bigger deal now, not to mention Ja's incident was on social media. There's no hiding it, no second-hand account of what happened. As you said, it's not the first time either, so he needs to get his act together immediately.

[mp3]

It's crazy when you think that the top 3 picks from that draft are struggling the most for one reason or another, Zion is always hurt, Ja clearly isn't coping with stardom and while RJ is healthy and stays out of trouble he's so inconsistent

[Andrew]

I can't shake the feeling that Zion is going to end up being a What If, but I hope I'm wrong. Same with Ja getting it together. They're the current "stars of tomorrow while already being a big deal", so it'd be a real shame to see them flame out before the league is truly theirs. Not quite the same scenarios of course, but Grant Hill and Anfernee Hardaway are the examples that come to mind for me.

[mp3]

Yep, throw Greg Oden's name in there also.

Can you think of a "star" player that a few years deep into there career that had the type of drama that Ja is creating for himself?

Arenas was due to injuries near the end of his career when he had the gun issues but like you said it was not on social media it happened behind closed doors, Iverson had troubles coming into the league but got them sorted out, the only player off the top of my head that I can think of that ruined his career like this was Sebastian Telfair running into gun issues but he was far from a star player in this league.

I was also reading that Ja had police do a welfare check on him due to social media posts some thinking he was going to harm himself which makes me think that people around him and the grizzlies believe he may have that mindset and is struggling more than we know and if so I truly feel for him because I know what them struggles feel like only to well, I can't imagine how much worst my situation would of been if I was in the spotlight like Ja is and my struggles were bad enough alone

[Andrew]

Micheal Ray Richardson was banned for drug violations following his ninth season, in a career that included four All-Star appearances, three steals crowns, and the assist championship in 1980. Not quite the same situation, but it might be the closest example.

[Andrew]

Meanwhile, Jalen Green is advised not to brandish a gun during his Instagram live, much to his amusement.

phpBB [video]

[mp3]

So for a second offence do you think 25 games is enough of a suspension?

[Andrew]

My initial reaction is that it's too short. Even though it's a significant amount of games, it still feels lenient. He'll be back by December, with an opportunity to play in (and get paid for) more than 50 games. From the speculation and the way Adam Silver was talking about it, it seemed like it was going to be more, which no doubt contributes to it feeling lenient.

However, I'm struggling to rationalise a longer suspension, or come up with a definitive number. He's not facing serious criminal charges, nor did he commit a violent act on the court that resulted in serious injuries; things that you could easily say justify a season-long suspension, or even a ban if it were bad enough. 25 doesn't feel long enough, but it's just a feeling. I can't cite a precedent or standard that will yield a more appropriate number.

I read that there will be conditions to him returning, so presumably he could still be out of action (but no longer technically suspended, and thus paid) a little longer if the league and team aren't happy with where he's at and what he's doing. They probably reserve the right to tack on more games if he messes up badly again, too. I just hope it will be enough to make him grow up. Flaunting the rules when you're already in trouble is basically acting like a petulant teenager, pouting that a teacher or parent told them off and punished you when you're definitely out of line. He's too old for that, and a professional athlete and public figure to boot. The people that pay him a lot of money aren't going to have unlimited patience, nor should they.

In lieu of being able to rationalise a higher number, 25 games seems like the absolute least they could do, so it'll have to do for now.

[mp3]

Yeah mate I feel like 40 min should of been handed out here, I read that missing 25 games would mean he can't be named for any end of year awards which means he won't be able to hit any bonuses in his contract but I don't think money is the issue here or message that needs to be made, I also heard on YouTube that his camp said it wasn't a real gun yet 2 weeks before he responsibility for his actions which he wouldn't of done or would of spoke up straight away if it was a toy gun

[Andrew]

I heard the "not a real gun" story as well. The thing about that is, it actually doesn't really make it better. In a way it's even brattier, not taking the previous admonishment seriously and thumbing his nose at it, then trying to get out of it on a technicality by saying "it wasn't real". It comes down to the same thing: instead of learning from a mistake and resolving to act more maturely, he's doubling down on acting the fool on social media. Again, it's not like he's committing a crime (though the confrontation with a minor isn't a good look), but like Shaq said, there are morality clauses and codes of conduct.

[mp3]

He's trying to glorify gang culture in the public domain when he knows he has millions of followers and a great deal of them young people, there was a reason why Washington ditched the "bullets" name and the league came down on Gilbert Arenas. I also read just now on realgm (not sure how true it is) that ja and people around him feel the league is out to get him proving in my eyes that he or they still don't get it, what do they expect to happen when he does this stuff for the second time in as many months? Of course the world is watching ja more closely now and waiting for him to make a mistake, the thing to do is not do the same stupid stunt again and be mad that your getting punished

[Andrew]

Exactly. He's hardly being picked on here.