Ja Morant has the Memphis Grizzlies in a position to not only compete in the Western Conference Playoffs but also perhaps get the team to their first-ever NBA Finals this season.
However, the 23-year-old superstar has been accused of some pretty horrific allegations regarding a physical altercation with a teenage boy and an incident involving a security guard.
The Washington Post’s Molly Hensley-Clancy obtained police records that show Morant was accused of punching a 17-year-old boy “12-13 times” during a pickup game at the NBA star’s house last summer. Shelby County Sheriff’s Office detectives say that the teenager said Morant went into his house after hitting him and “re-emerged with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on the weapon.”
Morant told police that he “swung first” in the alleged fight with the teenager, but it was in self-defense because the teenager threw a basketball at his head and advanced toward him. Shelby County District Attorney’s office prosecutors declined to prosecute the NBA star.
Per WaPo, Morant’s family and friends were also involved in an incident at a Finish Line show store in a Memphis mall after his mother complained about treatment from a worker. The head of security at the mall told police he was “threatened” by Morant in the parking lot and that someone in Morant’s group shoved him in the head.
This also comes a month after The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz and Sam Amick reported last month reported on an NBA investigation after the Indiana Pacers said that associates of Morant “aggressively confronted” some of their people and allegedly pointed a gun laser in their direction.
The allegations mounting up around Morant were pretty eye-opening to the NBA world and there were plenty of reactions about it.
ja morant getting 10 people to the mall to fight a finish line worker is a mess of logistics and transportation pic.twitter.com/e0zPwTTYH8
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) March 1, 2023
Ja Morant needs to drop this gangster act.
He’s not a gangster. Stop trying to act like one.
He’s a really talented basketball player who has a high ceiling but he’s risking it with all this garbage https://t.co/qGJDen0oEI— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) March 1, 2023
The Grizzlies have gone from “most fun team in the league” to insufferable in record time. https://t.co/rSMky2rDLA
— Sean Wagner-McGough (@seanjwagner) March 1, 2023
so, uh … not great. https://t.co/7Dx0ZI8qwM
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) March 1, 2023