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Ja Morant continues to land in the headlines for negative reasons.
Last week, the NBA handed down a $75,000 fine after Morant made multiple imaginary gun-aiming gestures on the court that were considered “inappropriate.” He was previously warned by the league office that this gesture could be interpreted in a negative light, and when Morant neglected the warnings, he received a punishment.
In fact, Morant doubled down, adopting a new celebration with another make-believe weapon: a grenade. He debuted it on Tuesday during the Grizzlies‘ 124-100 win over the Charlotte Hornets. After sinking a 3-pointer, Morant mimicked tossing an explosive into the stands and then covering his ears as one would to protect themselves from the explosion.
“That’s my celebration now until somebody else has a problem with it, and I’ll find another one,” Morant said Thursday after a Grizzlies’ shootaround.
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When Morant says ‘somebody,’ he’s referring to NBA commissioner Adam Silver and league officials that were responsible for issuing the previous warnings and fines.
However, that’s not who Morant should be concerned with. His antics are becoming a problem for his team.
“This is who [Morant] is, where he just likes to toe the line,” Paul Pierce said Friday on “Speak“. “He’s leaning into who he is, but the thing is, we don’t want to make this a thing that we have to talk about in the locker room. It should be about basketball at this point.”
Keyshawn and Paul give advice to Ja Morant after grenade celebration
Seemingly, as the controversy around Morant has heightened, his Grizzlies have faltered. Memphis has lost eight of its last 12 games and dropped from once being the second seed in the Western Conference to being tied for the seventh seed with the playoffs just around the corner.
While some of that could be docked to Memphis deciding to fire former head coach Taylor Jenkins, and adapting to a new system under current head coach Tuomas Iisalo, Morant hasn’t helped the situation.
“This is a team that’s got playoff aspirations, and it’s something new with him that’s not about basketball,” Pierce added. “As a leader of a team, as a guy who was once considered maybe the face of the NBA, I just think, at some point, he has to say, you know what ‘it’s time for me to grow up a little bit and take on the responsibility of being a leader, of being a role model and to be somebody who people can depend on night-in and night-out.'”
Morant hasn’t lost the locker room, but he’s set a poor image for a team full of young players.
“It’s good for him,” teammate Vince Williams Jr. said. “He gets to save his money. Anything that benefits him saving his money, I’m all for it, honestly.”
“I would have went to that, too,” Williams added about Morant’s celebration.
The grenade celebration also drew criticism from the TNT studio crew on Thursday night. Kenny Smith noted that Morant “has a history that maybe he shouldn’t be doing that.”
Shaquille O’Neal added: “He knows what he’s doing because y’all are going to keep talking about it.”
As for Charles Barkley, he said the happiest person may be Jenkins, who was fired on March 28, because “he ain’t got to deal with this immature stuff.”
Back to what Pierce said — this is who Morant is. He’s “edgy”. He enjoys being the “villain.” That’s not the problem. It’s the way in which he’s embodying that persona.
“There’s nothing wrong with being the villain,” Pierce explained. “I consider myself a villain, but I did it in a different way. If he’s going to lean into [it], then so be it. Certain responsibilities come with being a hero and a villain. Some of those are being negatively criticized. If he’s willing to deal with those things and lean into it where it doesn’t get him in trouble with things off the court or things on the court, then that’s fine.”
The issue right now is Morant’s story has become about his controversial celebration, rather than how he’s lifting his team to success.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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