Officials from the Shelby County, Tenn., Sheriff’s Office checked Grizzlies star Ja Morant at his home Wednesday morning after Morant posted a series of suggestive messages on his Instagram Story, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office confirmed The Athletic. Here’s what you need to know:
- “He’s fine,” office spokesman John Morris wrote in an email. “He has informed us that he is taking a break from social media.”
- TMZ previously reported that police conducted a “welfare check” on Morant, but Morris said the language was incorrect.
- The posts, which did not appear on Morant’s Instagram story Wednesday afternoon, featured a series of photos with captions such as “Love ya ma,” “Love ya pops,” “You biggest baby, love you,” and ended with a post that read “Bye”.
- Morant, 23, was suspended from all team activities earlier this month after he was seen displaying what appeared to be a gun in an Instagram Live clip that was widely shared on Twitter. This clip came two months after he was suspended by the league for showing a gun in an Instagram video filmed at a Denver-area nightclub.
backstory
Morant said in a statement last week after his most recent suspension that he knew he had let down “a lot of people who supported him”.
He added: “This is a journey and I am aware that there is still a lot to do.” My words may not mean much right now, but I take full responsibility for my actions. I am determined to keep working on myself.”
In the latest video for which he was suspended, Morant can be seen in the passenger seat of a car being driven by someone else. As the camera pans towards him, Morant appears briefly holding up what appears to be a gun.
Morant met with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and other league executives at the NBA’s New York offices in March to discuss his conduct.
In a speech on ESPN ahead of the NBA Draft Lottery last Tuesday, Silver confirmed the league is investigating the latest video and he’s “assuming the worst.”
“We first spoke directly about the consequences before moving on to a later possibility that we had done something wrong,” Silver said when ESPN’s Malika Andrews asked what Morant said in their first meeting regarding the severity of a penalty for a replay had been a crime. “We were very focused on the wrongdoing that was in store for us at the time. And honestly, most of our conversations revolved around how incredibly serious the first incident was, which was brandishing a gun on social media.
“The consequences there, an eight-game ban, were quite serious and something he seemed to take incredibly seriously – at least to me – at the time. I mean, we’ve talked about it for a long time, not only about the consequences that this could have on his career, but also about the safety issues involved. By doing such an act, he could have injured, maimed, or killed himself or someone else. And also the recognition that he’s a star, that he has an incredibly large fan base and that my concern – and I thought one he shares with me – that millions, if not tens of millions, of children around the world would see him as having done something that was celebrated in some ways, which was using some kind of firearm in this way. At least that’s how I felt like he was taking it incredibly seriously.”
“Honestly I was shocked when I saw this video this weekend,” Silver continued in the interview. “Now we’re in the process of investigating, and we’re going to find out exactly what happened as best we can. Again, the video is a bit grainy and such, but I’m assuming the worst. But we will find out exactly what happened there.”
Nike removed the latest iteration of the Ja 1, the ‘Hunger’ colorway, from its website this month following Morant’s recent ban. Morant signed a multi-year deal with Nike in 2019.
Past Morant Incidents
Morant served an eight-game suspension on March 15 for “league-damaging conduct” after the NBA investigated a previous Instagram Live clip showing Morant at a nightclub in the after Memphis’ March 3 loss to the Nuggets Denver area pointed a gun. In that case, the league said it “has not come to the conclusion that the gun in question belonged to Morant, was brought to the nightclub by him, or was displayed by him beyond a short period of time.”
The NBA determined that Morant did not possess this weapon while traveling with the Grizzlies or at other NBA facilities. In addition to the NBA’s investigation, Colorado authorities found no “reasonable cause” to charge Morant with a felony, the league said.
The Grizzlies immediately announced that Morant would miss at least the next two games following the March incident. In a statement at the time, Morant apologized to his “family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire Grizzlies organization for letting you down” and said he would “take some time.” to get help and work.” about learning better ways to manage stress and my overall well-being.”
The Athletic later reported that Morant underwent counseling in a retreat-like setting in Florida and communicated with his teammates via text and video after leaving the club. He returned from his eight-game suspension in the Grizzlies’ win over the Rockets on March 22 and had 17 points with five assists and four rebounds in 24 minutes.
In an interview with ESPN’s Jalen Rose after meeting Silver in March, Morant said he felt like “we didn’t know what it was about in the past.”
“I’m aware of what I have to lose and what we have to lose as a group,” Morant said in an interview. “It’s basically just about being more responsible and smarter and staying away from all the bad decisions.”
Morant called the March meeting with Silver “an open discussion,” adding, “Obviously he’s said things that I need to get better at, but it’s more about just showing me his support.”
Morant also said the gun in the March video was not his, but did not say how he got it.
“That’s not who I am,” Morant said. “I do not condone violence or any kind of violence, but I take full responsibility for my actions. I made a bad mistake. I can see the picture I’ve painted over myself with my recent mistakes. But going forward, I’m going to show everyone who Ja really is, what I stand for, and change that narrative that everyone has.”
He added that during his counseling in Florida, he learned “how to basically be there for myself and learned different ways to deal with stress positively.”
“Also, I’ve put my team in a difficult position because I can’t be there for decisions I’ve made,” Morant said. “I regret it all. I can’t wait to be back out there on the floor now and know what my punishment is. I accept that and feel like I deserve this punishment for my mistakes and what I’ve done. But when I get back out there, I’ll be ready to go and push for a ring.”
Morant was also the subject of a Washington Post report in March, which detailed a series of extrajudicial incidents from last summer. It also included the security chief at a Memphis mall filing a police report alleging that Morant had “threatened” him during an altercation.
He was the subject of controversy earlier this year when the NBA was investigating an incident in which his acquaintances allegedly aggressively assaulted members of the Pacers tour group near the team bus in the loading area of the FedExForum after a Jan. 29 game in Memphis. The Athletic reported in February that someone in a slow-moving SUV – in which Morant was driving – aimed a red laser at members of the Pacers tour group near the team bus.
The two members of the party who spoke to The Athletic for this report said they did not see who blasted the laser out of the SUV. They also didn’t know if the laser was attached to a weapon, but believed it was. A Pacers security guard in the loading area remarked at the time, “This is 100 percent a gun.”
The NBA investigated the incident on the FedEx Forum and told The Athletic, “We have not been able to confirm that an individual threatened others with a weapon.”
Morant’s career
Morant and the Grizzlies agreed to a five-year extension of the $193 million rookie maximum in 2022, worth up to $231 million with incentives, ESPN previously reported.
Morant, the 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year, earned back-to-back All-Star nominations in 2022 and 2023 and averaged 26.2 points per game and a career-high 8.1 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game in the years 2022-23. In this year’s postseason, Morant averaged 24.6 points per game in five games while the Grizzlies lost to the Lakers in six games in the first round.
Morant was a second-team All-NBA selection and was named the 2022 NBA Most Improved Player and made the All-Star Game.
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(Photo: Winslow Townson / USA Today)