Adam Silver says decision on Ja Morant will be announced AFTER NBA Finals after Grizzlies star’s second gun incident on social media
- Silver says extra discipline won’t distract players in Finals
- Morant was previously suspended by the league in March over a similar matter
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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Thursday that the league will wait until after the Finals to sanction Memphis Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant for brandishing a handgun in a social media video.
The video, which was on Instagram Live, showed Morant waving the gun as he sat in the passenger seat of a car while listening to rap music.
It went viral on the morning of May 14, and the Grizzlies suspended Morant from all team activities later that day.
It was the second time in three months that Morant had been caught with a gun on social media.
He had previously been suspended eight games and sought advice after a March 4 incident in which he filmed himself holding a gun at a Denver strip club following a 113-97 loss to the Nuggets.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Says Ja Morant’s Discipline Will Be Announced After Finals
Morant waved a gun on IG Live in early May – his second instance this year
Ahead of Game 1 of the Finals, Silver noted that “past deed history” and “individual player history” were considered when the league made its decision on how it would punish Morant.
“We’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information, I think, since I was first asked about the situation,” Silver said.
“I will say we probably could have done it by now, but we made the decision, and I think the players’ association agrees with us, that it would be unfair to those players and those teams in the middle. of the series to announce the results of this investigation.
“Given that we are of course in the offseason, he has now been suspended indefinitely by the Memphis Grizzlies, so nothing would have changed in the next few weeks anyway.
“It seemed best to park this for the time being, at least any public announcement, and I now have a feeling that shortly after the conclusion of the final we will announce the outcome of this investigation.”
Morant, after his initial eight-game suspension in March, met with Silver and league officials in New York to discuss the situation.
Silver said the 23-year-old seemed “sincere and serious” when the two met, but he’s unsure whether the suspension caused Morant to change his ways following the latest social media video.
“I don’t think we know yet what it will take to change his behavior. I said the same thing back then: he seems like a handsome young man,” Silver said. “As for my relationship with him, I think he clearly made mistakes, but he is young.
The league suspended Morant for eight games after doing something similar in March
“I’m hoping now – once we conclude at the end of our process what the appropriate discipline is, that it’s not just about discipline, it’s now about what we, the association players, his team and he and the people around him are going to do to create better circumstances in the future.
Morant is coming off his fourth season with Memphis after the Grizzlies selected him with the second overall pick in the 2019 draft.
A two-time All-Star, Morant averaged 26.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 8.1 assists in 61 games (59 starts) in 2022-23.
The Nuggets beat the Miami Heat 104-93 on Thursday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The best-of-seven series will end no later than June 18, when Game 7 would be played if necessary.
