Ja Morant.Photo:Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty
Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty
Morant, 23, will serve a 25-game suspension at the start of the 2023-24 NBA season as a result of the second incident in May, after he was first suspended for eight games in March.
The two-time NBA All Star apologized both times,saying in Maythat “I know I’ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me” and that he’s “committed to continuing to work on myself.”But at the NBA Draft on Thursday, Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman toldThe Associated Presshis player’s apology is pointless unless he shows change moving forward.
“At this point, it doesn’t matter until he follows through,” Kleiman said. “I couldn’t care less about words. Ja has to prove it.”
Kleiman told the AP he believes the NBA’s 25-game suspension “was appropriate” for Morant, who had spoken with league commissioner Adam Silver about the seriousness of the matter after his first suspension in March.
Ja Morant.Jamie Sabau/Getty
Ja Morant.Thearon W. Henderson/Getty
Silver said last month that he was “shocked” when he saw the video of Morant flashing a gun a second time, despite their conversation.
“An eight-game suspension was pretty serious and something that he, at least to me, seemed to take incredibly seriously in that time,” Silver told ESPN. “And we spoke for a long time about not just the consequences that could have on his career, but the safety issues around it. [Morant] could’ve injured, maimed, killed himself, someone else with an act like that.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Silver said he and Morant had also discussed “the acknowledgment that he’s a star” and the impact his actions have because of his popularity. “He has an incredibly huge following, and [we discussed] my concern — and I thought he shared with me — that millions, if not tens of millions, of kids globally would have seen him do something that was celebrating in a way that act of using a firearm in that fashion,” Silver said.
Ja Morant.Justin Ford/Getty
The commissioner then announced Morant’s latest suspension last week following the NBA Finals, calling Morant’s behavior “alarming.”
The back-to-back gun incidents were the latest in a string of off-the-court issues for the NBA star. Morant was previously involved intwo other off-the-court incidentsthatThe Washington Postreportedon in March. In those instances, Morant was accused of threatening a security officer at a Memphis mall and also of punching a teenage boy during a pickup basketball game at his house.Kleiman told the AP that Morant’s gun incidents were a part of a pattern of “problematic behavior” for the young player and that his future is in his own hands.
“There’s no room for steps back,” Kleiman said. “Ja has the opportunity to come back from this. And everyone wants him to be successful.”
source: people.com
