The Memphis Grizzlies have announced that their star point guard will be out for “at least” the next two games.
The Memphis Grizzlies announced on Saturday that Ja Morant will be out of the team for at least the next two games after the National Basketball Association opened an investigation into a social media post by the guard after he live streamed himself with what appeared to be a gun at a nightclub. The NBA had just revealed that it had started the investigation when the announcement was made.
The Grizzlies announced that the star guard will be taking a break from the team, and the superstar guard felt obligated to apologize on Saturday afternoon.
The video was streamed to Morant’s Instagram page, but after he stopped the feed, it was not saved to his page in Instagram’s archive. The Grizzlies played a game on Friday night in Denver before traveling to Los Angeles on Saturday. On Sunday, they will play the Clippers, and on Tuesday, they will play the Lakers.
The Grizzlies have said that they won’t make any more comments about Morant missing at least these two games.
The NBA’s spokesman on Saturday stated, “We are aware of a social media post concerning Ja Morant and are looking into it. “The questioned post involves Ja Morant.”
Depending on what the league decides to do if it discovers misbehavior, Morant might have to pay a fine or be suspended from the league. The Grizzlies’ statement claims that Thursday’s home game against Golden State will be the earliest opportunity for Morant to return to action. Although it wasn’t immediately clear, it was assumed that he would accompany the Grizzlies on their trip to Los Angeles.
Memphis, which is now placed No. 2 in the Western Conference rankings, is led by Morant, a two-time All-Star who averages 27.1 points and 8.2 assists per game.
This is at least the second time in the past few weeks that Morant has been the subject of an investigation by the league. The league launched an inquiry into Morant’s conduct following an incident on January 29 in Memphis, which, according to Morant, resulted in a friend of his being prohibited from attending home games in Memphis for a whole year.
Following a game in which the Indiana Pacers were the adversaries, the event took occurred. Multiple Indiana Pacers players saw a red dot pointed at them, according to unnamed sources cited by The Indianapolis Star and USA Today. A Pacers security guard reportedly thought the laser was attached to a gun, according to The Athletic.
Despite having acknowledged that certain unnamed individuals have been barred from the arena, the National Basketball Association claims that their investigation has not turned up any evidence that anyone was threatened with a weapon.
In a tweet in response to the event, Morant stated that the allegations “paint this negative image on me and my fam.” I also put my brother on an attendance ban for all home games for a full year. unbelievable.” On January 29, there was some shouting and cursing going on between Pacers players and Morant’s buddies who were watching from the sidelines. The incident took place in front of Davonte Pack, a close friend of Morant who was dragged out the arena as Pacers bench players yelled at Pack.
After an incident that took place at Morant’s home this past summer, in which a 17-year-old alleged that Pack and Morant assaulted him, a civil lawsuit was brought against them. The occurrence took place at Morant’s home. In a statement issued in January, the Shelby County district attorney’s office said that it was “aware of the incident, and after careful review of the facts, decided that there was not enough evidence to proceed with a case.”
Morant has grown into a genuine superstar since being chosen with the second overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. The Grizzlies will increase the value of his contract from $194 million to roughly $230 million over the course of the following five years, when it becomes effective, if he is chosen for an All-NBA team this season.
He is also a highly sought-after endorsement in addition to all of that. On Christmas, Nike unveiled the first shoe with Morant’s mark, which will be on sale in the coming weeks. Additionally, Powerade disclosed earlier this week that they had signed Morant to a multiyear sponsorship deal.
On the same day that the Powerade purchase became public, The Washington Post published an article. The piece described how Morant and some of his acquaintances “have been accused of threatening and even violent behavior,” according to the newspaper, and it was based on police documents that the publication had obtained.