Morant back with Grizzlies
Ja Morant’s eight-game NBA suspension is over, and the two-time All-Star guard has rejoined the Grizzlies.
He was expected on the bench Monday night when the Grizzlies hosted the Mavericks, though it’s unclear exactly when he’ll play, with the earliest being Wednesday. The Grizzlies announced Sunday that Morant would not play against the Mavericks because of a “Return to Competition Reconditioning.”
The Grizzlies know Morant has been working out, trying to be ready for this moment. The Grizzlies were off Sunday after back-to-back wins, and coach Taylor Jenkins said he would like Morant to practice or at least participate in a shootaround before seeing game action.
The Grizzlies host the Rockets on Wednesday in the first of two consecutive games against the Rockets in Memphis.
The Grizzlies went 5-3 without Morant, who first stepped away from the team March 4, hours after he livestreamed himself on Instagram displaying a gun at strip club in Colorado following a game against the Nuggets. The Grizzlies said on March 8 that Morant would be sidelined for four more games.
Morant met with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in New York before the NBA announced his suspension on March 15, including six games he already had missed.
The league investigation found that Morant was “holding a firearm in an intoxicated state” — but did not prove the gun was owned by Morant “or was displayed by him beyond a brief period.” The NBA also did not find that Morant had the gun with him on Memphis’ flight to Denver, or that he possessed the gun in any NBA facility.
Police in Colorado conducted their own investigation and concluded there was no reason to charge Morant with a crime after looking into the circumstances surrounding the video.
Morant said in an ESPN interview on March 15 that the gun was not his and that he takes full responsibility for his actions.
But the strip club incident wasn’t Morant’s first eyebrow-raising move. The Grizzlies had been talking with Morant about his off-court conduct even before the March 4 incident.
“I can see the image that I painted over myself with my recent mistakes,” Morant told ESPN.
“But in the future, I’m going to show everybody who Ja really is, what I’m about and change this narrative that everybody got.”
Morant, whose suspension cost him $669,000 in salary and possibly a chance to max out the five-year contract he signed last July by making the All-NBA team, said he underwent counseling during his suspension.
On the court, the Grizzlies are pleased with the growth of the 23-year-old Morant.
After the Grizzlies selected him with the No. 2 draft pick in 2019, he was named the 2020 NBA rookie of the year and last year earned NBA most improved player honors.
He still ranks ninth in the league averaging 27.1 points and has six triple-doubles this season.