Source: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is facing allegations he was involved in two hot-tempered faceoffs away from the NBA this past summer. According to an exclusive from the Washington Post, the two-time NBA All-Star is accused of being aggressive with Memphis mall security as well as supposedly flashing a gun at a teen. Both incidents have been kept under wraps until now.
Last July, Morant allegedly had a verbal confrontation with the head of security at a Memphis mall. A member of the athlete’s entourage is also claimed to have pushed another security staff member in the head. The head of security was so shaken up by the stated dustup that he filed a police report.
Less than one week later, Morant reputedly had a more violent confrontation at his own home with a 17-year-old boy. According to what the teenager told law enforcement, the two were playing a game of pickup basketball at Morant’s house when the NBA superstar clubbed him in the head. Morant’s buddy joined the beatdown, alleged the 17-year-old, leaving him with a “large knot.” But after the melee, the teen says Morant went into his home and came back out with a gun tucked into the waist of his pants.
Morant also filed his own report with law enforcement weeks after the conflict, per The Post. And he never confirmed nor denied that he brandished a firearm at the teen. However, Morant asserted that any actions he took were in self-defense and that the teenager threw a basketball at his face first. “I’m gonna come back and light this place up like fireworks,” the 17-year-old said, according to the police report from Morant.
“Any and every allegation involving a firearm has been fully investigated and could not be corroborated. This includes the NBA investigation last month, in which they found no evidence,” said Jim Tanner, Morant’s agent, in a statement. He added that any action taken by his client “was purely self-defense. Again, after this was fully investigated by law enforcement, they came to the decision not to charge Ja with any crime.”
Neither July 2022 incident resulted in any arrests. Their deeper revelation comes nearly one month after Fox Sports analyst Shannon Sharpe admonished Ja Morant for failing to “realize he’s not a thug.”
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