Ja Morant, star of the Memphis Grizzlies, is at 23 years old the sixth player with the most impact in the NBA. A player who from a small team has managed to reach the top with a bombastic playing style. His prodigious physique has led him to dominate the skies of the competition being only a point guard. His youth makes him one of the great icons of the competition in the present and especially in the future. But managing success is not being easy for the player, who remains separated from the team after appearing last Saturday in a video carrying a gun in a nightclub in Glendale (Colorado, USA). The NBA has also opened an investigation, as stated by its spokesman Mike Bass, since the internal regime of the NBA does not have firearms when they are in spaces derived from their profession. The sanction could become indefinite disqualification.
For now, and although Colorado regulations reveal that it is illegal to carry firearms under the influence of alcohol, the Glendale City Police Department will not file criminal charges for his video posted on Instagram, in which he was seen carrying a gun in a nightclub. The letter explains that it could not "verify that there was a cause to file charges" and that "he did not receive calls or requests for help at the nightclub for a weapon." In addition, "the investigation also verified that no one was threatened with the weapon and that, in fact, no weapon was found," the note added.
Ja Morant has thus escaped a possible criminal accusation, but the problem that the player is experiencing is not limited only to these facts. "I take full responsibility for my actions last night. I apologize to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, collaborators, the city of Memphis and the entire franchise," Morant wrote the next day. "I'm going to take some time to get help and work on better ways to manage stress and my overall well-being," he added.
Morant, leader of the second-ranked Grizzlies in the Western Conference, already missed games against the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers, both in California, and there is still no clear plan for his reinstatement. "The Grizzlies inform that Ja Morant will be separated from the team for at least the next two games," the Memphis team wrote in a statement after learning what happened.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg of the player's problems off the slopes, since according to information from The Washington Post, there was also a firearm involved in an incident that took place on July 26, 2022. The events happened during a friendly match that mixed professionals and amateurs at Morant's mansion. One of the participants, a minor, denounced that the NBA player hit him violently on more than ten occasions after a disagreement during the duel. He also denounced that another person –later identified as Davonte Pack- also assaulted him and that Morant left the scene to return with a firearm sticking out of his pants. The event could not be proven.
But four days before what happened in that game, a security agent from a shopping center denounced the player for coming accompanied by "at least nine other people", after an argument between the player's mother and a clerk from a shoe store. . The security director of the shopping center stated that he was threatened, that Morant and his companions refused to leave and that one of them even hit him on the head.
The last time he was in trouble with the law was in late January, when the Pacers reported that his bus was targeted by a laser from a firearm after a game against Memphis. The laser came from a van in which Morant was a passenger and occurred after one of Morant's inner circle, Devonte Pack, was ejected during the game for storming the court seeking a confrontation with Pacers players. . Pack was later banned for a year from Grizzlies games.
