Yes Morant doesn’t sound like a return to basketball.
The Memphis Grizzlies star was inactive Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers for the second game of what the team announced Saturday was “at least” a two-game ban, which it declined to call a suspension. When asked about a timeline for his return before the tip, head coach Taylor Jenkins called the projection a “disrespectful.”
“I said yesterday that it’s a healing process,” Jenkins told reporters. “So if everyone is expecting something to change overnight, we need to exercise due diligence and respect that.
“We talk about Ja being in a better place personally and also professionally. I think putting a timetable on it is disrespectful. We want to make sure he’s in a great place for himself, but also as a responsible teammate here.”
The Grizzlies suspended Morant after he posted a social media video on Saturday of him holding a gun while dancing at a club.
The Grizzlies played and lost to the Nuggets on Friday night in Denver. Police in Glendale, a Denver suburb, are investigating whether Morant broke any laws in the incident.
Morant released a statement through his agent on Saturday after the Grizzlies suspended him and announced he was taking “some time off” from basketball.
“I take full responsibility for my actions last night. I’m sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire Grizzlies organization that I let you down,” Morant said in a statement. “I’m going to take some time to get help and work on learning better ways to manage stress and my overall well-being.”
The NBA acknowledged on the same day that it is conducting its own investigation.
Morant released the video days after a Washington Post story published allegations that Morant had repeatedly punched a 17-year-old boy during a pickup basketball game at his Memphis home. According to police reports, the alleged victim said Morant, 23, went to his home after the attack and returned with a gun in his pants.
The story goes on
Yes Morant doesn’t sound like a return to basketball. (Justin Ford/Getty Images)
The Post story also details a claim that Morant threatened a security guard at a Memphis mall last summer. According to a Memphis police report cited in the story, Morant’s mother got into a confrontation with an employee at a Finish Line store in the mall. She then called Morant, who reportedly showed up with several of his friends.
According to the report, the security guard asked Morant and his friends to leave the mall parking lot. The security guard told police that one of Morant’s friends then poked him in the head and that Morant said “let me find out when he’s getting off” as they exited the property.
The post-story came weeks after Morant’s friends were accused of pointing a red laser pointer at Indiana Pacers employees after a controversial Pacers-Grizzlies game in Memphis. Pacers security believed the laser was attached to a gun.
“We felt that we were in great danger,” a source told The Athletic anonymously.
Morant and his attorneys have largely denied Details of the gun allegations.
Morant’s absence comes as the Grizzlies line up near the top of the Western Conference. Memphis started Tuesday in second place in the West, seven games behind the Nuggets in first place.
A two-time All-Star and one of the brightest young stars in the league, Morant is averaging 27.1 points, 8.2 assists and six rebounds this season. A prolonged absence would deal a serious blow to the Grizzlies’ hopes of making the Western Conference playoffs.