{"id":300274,"date":"2023-05-25T01:51:44","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T01:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=300274"},"modified":"2023-05-25T04:58:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T04:58:54","slug":"banned-nba-stars-cryptic-post-sparks-police-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=300274","title":{"rendered":"Banned NBA star's cryptic post sparks police check"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police in Tennessee conducted a welfare check on suspended Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> guard Ja Morant<\/a> and say \u201che is fine\u201d after cryptic messages appeared on his Instagram account and were later deleted.<\/p>\n

The post included messages and pictures saying \u201cLove ya ma,\u201d \u201cLove ya pops" and \u201cYou da greatest babygirl love ya.\u201d A fourth message simply read: \u201cBye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shelby County Sheriff\u2019s Office spokesman John Morris told The Associated Press in a phone call that deputies checked on Morant at his home.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe advised us that he is taking a break from social media,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n

\"Ja\"Ja<\/p>\n

Morant, 23, was suspended from all team activities following a video of him holding a gun that circulated May 13 on social media<\/a>. The video was the two-time All-Star\u2019s second display of a firearm within three months in a social media video.<\/p>\n

The first video cost Morant an eight-game suspension and over $1 million in forfeited salary in March<\/a>. The second could be much more expensive with his five-year, $296 million max contract set to begin this coming season.<\/p>\n

The video captured May 13 and widely shared online was streamed by an associate of Morant and showed him holding what appeared to be a gun as he sat in the passenger seat of a vehicle. The first video showed him flashing a gun in a strip club.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies suspended Morant from team activities on May 14, pending the league\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n

Spotrac.com noted Morant is projected to be paid $51.2 million for the 2023-24 season if the NBA salary cap is $205 million. A suspension of 20 games or fewer would cost Morant $353,633 per game while more than 20 games would mean he loses $466,153 a game.<\/p>\n

Powerade, the sports drink company, pulled an ad featuring Morant almost immediately after the March video.<\/p>\n

f you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via <\/strong>lifeline.org.au<\/strong><\/a>. In an emergency, call 000.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong> clicking here<\/strong><\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police in Tennessee conducted a welfare check on suspended Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant and say \u201che is fine\u201d after cryptic messages appeared on his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=300274"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300277,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300274\/revisions\/300277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=300274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=300274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=300274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}