Ja Morant remains suspended indefinitely by the Memphis Grizzlies after appearing on social media with a gun again for the second time this year.
A lengthy suspension is the least of his troubles as opposed to what others are concerned about.
ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith recently shared a very troubling comment when speaking on Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant, saying some people are concerned about whether or not he will be alive in five years because of his behavior.
“I can tell you that people within the NBA community are not just concerned about Ja Morant playing basketball,” Smith said “They’re concerned about whether or not he’s going to be alive in five years because of the environments that he finds himself around and the situations he finds himself confronted by. It’s a serious matter and it’s something that I think the NBA and everybody that knows anything about the kind of things that are going on with him find themselves concerned about.”
Former Memphis Grizzlies player Jae Crowder slammed the analyst for sharing this about Morant, along with the internet in general:
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Last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that a disciplinary decision on Morant will be shared after the conclusion of the Finals. He did not want the news to come out because it would be unfair to the Heat and Nuggets who are playing for a championship.
“We’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information,” Silver said. “We probably could have brought it to a head now, but we’ve made the decision that it would be unfair to these players and these teams to announce that decision in the middle of this series.”
Smith isn’t anticipating a season-long suspension for Morant.
“In the case of Adam Silver, I don’t suspect he’ll go that far,” Smith said. “I don’t think it’ll be the entire season, I don’t even think it’ll be half a season. I anticipate it’ll be 25 games… something along those lines.”
The All-Star was suspended by the league for eight games earlier this year after he went on Instagram Live while holding a handgun at a strip club after a game against the Nuggets.
That incident followed reports of multiple gun-related incidents involving Morant.
A lesson was clearly not learned as he was seen on Instagram Live once again holding a gun on May 14 and was suspended indefinitely by his team before the day was over.
Morant responded with an apology as well as a series of cryptic Instagram posts so concerning they resulted in police officers being sent to his home for a welfare check.
It appears likely Morant’s second suspension will be significantly longer this time around.
