According to the Memphis Grizzlies, their standout point guard will be absent from the club for “at least” the next two contests.
After the National Basketball Association started an inquiry into a social media post by the guard after he live streamed himself clutching what seemed to be a gun at a nightclub, the Memphis Grizzlies announced on Saturday that Ja Morant will be absent from the team for at least the next two games. The announcement came shortly after the NBA announced that it had opened the investigation.
After the Grizzlies made the announcement that he would be taking some time away from the club, the superstar guard felt compelled to deliver an apology on Saturday afternoon.
Morant streamed the video to his Instagram page, however once he terminated the feed, the footage was not saved to his page in Instagram’s archive. The Grizzlies played a game in Denver on Friday night, then on Saturday they flew to Los Angeles, where they will play the Clippers on Sunday and the Lakers on Tuesday.
The Grizzlies have stated that there will be no further remark regarding Morant’s absence from at least these two games.
“We are aware of a social media post involving Ja Morant and are investigating,” said the spokesman for the NBA on Saturday. “The post in question involves Ja Morant.”
Morant might have to pay a fine or be suspended from the league depending on what the league decides to do if it finds misconduct. According to the statement released by the Grizzlies, the earliest opportunity for Morant to play again is Thursday’s game against Golden State at home. It was not immediately obvious if he was going to travel to Los Angeles with the Grizzlies or not, but it was expected that he would.
Morant, a two-time All-Star who averages 27.1 points and 8.2 assists per game, is leading the way for Memphis, which is presently ranked No. 2 in the standings for the Western Conference.
At the very least, this is the second time in the most recent couple of weeks that Morant has been the focus of an inquiry by the league. Following an incident on January 29 in Memphis, which Morant said resulted in a friend of his being barred from attending home games in Memphis for an entire year, the league opened an investigation into Morant’s behavior.
That event took place after a game in which the Indiana Pacers were the opponents. Citing unnamed sources, The Indianapolis Star and USA Today stated that multiple members of the Indiana Pacers saw a red dot directed at them. Additionally, The Athletic reported that a Pacers security guard suspected the laser was hooked to a rifle.
The National Basketball Association has stated that its inquiry has discovered no proof that anyone was threatened with a weapon, despite the fact that it has confirmed that certain anonymous persons have been banned from the arena.
Morant’s response to that incident was a tweet in which he said that the claims “paint this negative image on me and my fam.” & I put my brother on an attendance ban for all home games for a whole year. unbelievable.” During the game on January 29, there was some yelling and screaming between players for the Pacers and friends of Morant who were sitting on the sideline. Davonte Pack, a close friend of Morant’s who was hauled out of the arena as Pacers bench players shouted in Pack’s direction, was present when the incident occurred.
A civil action was filed against Pack and Morant after an event that occurred at Morant’s house this past summer, in which a 17-year-old claimed that they assaulted him. The incident occurred at Morant’s house. The office of the district attorney for Shelby County released a statement in January stating 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, who was selected with the second overall choice in the 2019 NBA draft, has developed into a bona fide superstar. If he is selected for an All-NBA team this year, the Grizzlies will increase the value of his agreement from $194 million to around $230 million over the course of the following five years, when it becomes effective.
In addition to that, he is a highly sought-after endorser. Nike presented Morant’s first signature shoe on Christmas, which will be available for purchase in the following weeks after its debut. In addition, earlier this week, Powerade made the announcement that they had signed Morant to a multiyear endorsement contract.
The Washington Post published an article on the same day that the Powerade transaction was made public. The article was based on police records that the newspaper had received, and it detailed how Morant and several of his associates “have been accused of threatening and even violent behavior,” according to the newspaper.
