The National Basketball Association (NBA) has suspended Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant 25 games after video resurfaced of him brandishing a gun on Instagram Live for the second time in a two-month span.
Morant will be suspended without pay, meaning he will lose $7.5 million of the $33.5 million he was set to earn this year before the suspension. It is the 8th-longest suspension in NBA history.
The point guard has clearly brought this all on himself, but he could have avoided it after the first incident. While he was perfectly within his constitutional right to own a gun, the manner in which he used that firearm was irresponsible and earned him the hefty punishment.
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However, reports have emerged that Morant and people in his circles think there is an organized effort by the league to make an example out of him, according to reports from ESPN NBA reporter Tim MacMahon.
Ja Morant’s camp reportedly feels like the NBA and the media are out to get them
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) June 19, 2023
“I have heard indirectly that Ja and people close to Ja, perhaps people formerly close to Ja, have this feeling that the NBA out to get them. That the media is out to get them.”
(Via… pic.twitter.com/aheFNkJw7m
Some have discredited this report, but it’s still an incredibly bad look.
Morant is in this situation because he lacked the self-awareness and self-control to forgo brandishing a gun on social media again. The NBA is simply giving a repeat offender a punishment that fits his actions (even Stephen A. Smith thinks this punishment is appropriate) and that will hopefully get the message through that he can’t act like a thug and get away with it.
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