Ja Morant sidelined as NBA investigates gun, strip club video
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Ja Morant's skyrocketing basketball career is on hold following a series of off-court decisions by the young NBA star involving a gun in a strip club, actions which have temporarily derailed his meteoric rise.
Ja Morant's skyrocketing basketball career is on hold following a series of off-court decisions by the young NBA star involving a gun in a strip club, actions which have temporarily derailed his meteoric rise.
Morant is the target of a second NBA investigation in weeks with no timetable for his return to the Memphis Grizzlies. The two-time All-Star will miss his second game Tuesday night when Memphis visits the Los Angeles Lakers.
His benching after showing an apparent gun while at a strip club hours after a loss to Denver comes amid a sealed lawsuit alleging he punched a teenager during a pick-up game at his home last summer along with drinking and partying.
Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins says the 23-year-old Morant is a young man that has to "grow and get better."
Morant is the face of a young team with no player 30 or older, in a city that has been the center of the country's gun issues.
In November 2021, a rapper who had performed at a Grizzlies' halftime show was shot dead while buying cookies in Memphis. In 2010, a 34-year-old former Grizzlies' center was found dead riddled by bullets in a swampy field in southeast of the city.
Morant and the Grizzlies provided a much-needed respite in January while Memphis grieved the death of Tyre Nichols following a brutal attack by five police officers.