Memphis Grizzlies superstar guard Ja Morant has been accused of punching a 17-year-old boy and threatening gun violence on him last summer. This claim proceeds a report of Morant having threatened a Memphis mall head of security, as reported by the Washington Post.
CBS Sports explains that the incident with the head of security "started after Morant's mother had a dispute with an employee at a Finish Line store within the mall, which led her to call her son. Upon arrival, Morant and the people that came with him were told to leave by the head of security, and they refused, prompting police to arrive." After a "verbal confrontation", Morant's group briefly scuffled with the guard, Morant's friend had pushed the guard in the head. No charges would be filed against Morant or his group.
Four days after this mall event, Morant played a pickup basketball game at his Memphis home. Morant was guarded by a 17-year-old boy, and The Washington Post would report that Morant had punched the boy "12-13" times. The altercation came after the boy was checking the ball to Morant, and Morant "threw the ball hard at the boy's chest as he attempted to check it in, the boy threw it back just as hard. The ball 'slipped through [Morant's] hands,' the teenager said, and it hit Morant's chin."
After the punch, Morant reportedly would go into his house. Bleacher Report states Morant "re-emerged with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on the weapon." Morant never took the gun and pointed it at the teenager, however.
The entire incident led to a lawsuit filed by the boy and his family in September 2022. Documents from the lawsuit recalled the events as Morant accidentally being hit with the ball before Morant would ask someone in the pickup game "Should I do it to him?" Morant would then strike the teen.
Morant's family previously had filed a lawsuit against the teen as well. "Two weeks after the altercation Morant and his family then filed a police report against the teenager, alleging that he said he was going to 'come back and light this place up like fireworks,'" CBS Sports reports. "Morant and his family believed that the boy would return and shoot them."
Yardbarker writes, "Morant admitted to police that he swung first after the other player reportedly threw a basketball at Morant, hitting him in the head. At the time, the incident was viewed as little more than a pickup basketball game scuffle." Morant and his defense team are very determined to attempt to prove Morant's innocence until the situation clears.
The incident comes after very poorly timed news that Morant had signed a major deal to become the new face of Coca-Cola's Powerade brand.
This is not the only incident Morant has recently been involved in. In January 2023, The Athletic reported that an SUV that Morant traveled in would shine a red laser at a vehicle for the Indiana Pacers, after a Pacers-Grizzlies game. Pacers staff had believed the laser was a gun, but the NBA did not find any evidence of this. Morant was not suspended, but his friend was banned from Grizzlies home games for a year.
On January 20, 2023, former NFL superstar and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Shannon Sharpe had gotten into a slight altercation between him and Morant, as well as Morant's father. Yahoo! Sports explains, "The altercation happened shortly after the halftime buzzer when Sharpe yelled at Ja Morant after the final possession of the first half. As Morant was walking off the court toward the locker room, he paused and walked in the direction of Sharpe at his courtside seat." After a crowd formed, Morant's father Tee Morant had reportedly gotten involved as well, verbally insulting Sharpe. The incident went viral.
Morant's behavior in the past year has been heavily criticized by NBA fans. Sharpe himself had more to say about Morant. On February 6, 2023, Sharpe stated, “Ja did everything he could to lift himself and his family out of this type of environment and to get away from this and for some reason he wants to surround himself with these type of people. Why? Bruh, you not hard. That’s not your life. People in that life would give anything to be in your life.”
These incidents, as well as Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks' many repeated controversies on the court, such as a brawl he started after punching Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell in the groin earlier in the season, have led to the Memphis Grizzlies being considered the most hated team in the NBA. They have been dubbed the "villains" of the modern NBA, akin to the 1980s "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons and the early 2010s LeBron James-led Miami Heat. Despite the controversy, the Grizzlies still sit second place in the Western Conference, with a 38-23 record.
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