{"id":308969,"date":"2023-06-16T22:06:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T22:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308969"},"modified":"2023-06-17T05:59:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-17T05:59:17","slug":"nba-superstar-whacked-for-second-gun-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308969","title":{"rendered":"NBA superstar whacked for second gun video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memphis guard Ja Morant has been suspended 25 games by the NBA<\/a> \u2014 his second ban in four months \u2014 and Commissioner Adam Silver made clear the star must stop his \u201calarming\u201d habit of flashing guns on social media.<\/p>\n

The suspension for the upcoming season comes a month after a second video of Morant flashing a handgun was streamed online. The video of Morant showing a gun while sitting in the passenger seat of a car was posted after his eight-game suspension in March for a video in which he flashed a handgun in a Denver-area strip club.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Heartbroken': Cycling star dies aged 26<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Joe Root's stupendous strokeplay puts England on top\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

ASHES HIGHLIGHTS:<\/strong> Englishman, Aussies stunned by freak dismissal\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Morant is due to make around $48.7 million this season. He now stands to lose just over $436,000 per game \u2014 or approximately $10.9 million. He also will have to adhere to certain conditions before being reinstated, the NBA said.<\/p>\n

Silver made clear the two-time All-Star's decision-making is \u201cdisconcerting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential for other young people to emulate Ja\u2019s conduct is particularly concerning," Silver said. "Under these circumstances, we believe a suspension of 25 games is appropriate and makes clear that engaging in reckless and irresponsible behaviour with guns will not be tolerated."<\/p>\n

\"Ja<\/p>\n

The league said Morant \u201cwill be ineligible to participate in any public league or team activities, including preseason games\u201d during his suspension.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies suspended Morant indefinitely from team activities after the second video surfaced, and they said Friday they respect the punishment for this \u201clatest episode.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur standards as a league and team are clear, and we expect that all team personnel will adhere to them,\u201d the Grizzlies said.<\/p>\n

Morant apologized again Friday to the league, the Grizzlies, his teammates and the city of Memphis in a statement issued through his representatives. He specifically told Silver, Grizzlies owner Robert Pera and Memphis general manager Zach Kleiman he is sorry.<\/p>\n

The guard with his own signature Nike shoe also apologized to children who look up to him for failing them as a role model. Morant made clear he\u2019s had time to reflect and understands the hurt he might have caused.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promise I\u2019m going to be better. To all of my sponsors, I\u2019m going to be a better representation of our brands. And to all of my fans, I\u2019m going to make it up to you, I promise,\u201d Morant said.<\/p>\n

Morant said he\u2019ll keep working on both his mental health and decision-making.<\/p>\n

On May 24, police conducted a welfare check on Morant and said he was "fine\u201d after cryptic messages appeared on the guard's Instagram account only to be deleted. A police spokesman said Morant told officers he was \u201ctaking a break from social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ja<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you\u2019ll give me the chance to prove to you over time I\u2019m a better man than what I\u2019ve been showing you,\u201d Morant said Friday.<\/p>\n

NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio said the players association thinks the NBA went too far punishing Morant, calling it \u201cexcessive and inappropriate" and inconsistent with the league's past discipline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will explore with Ja all options and next steps,\u201d Tremaglio said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Nike also is sticking with Morant, whose Ja 1 shoe line debuted earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased that Ja is taking accountability and prioritizing his well-being,\u201d Nike said.<\/p>\n

Silver\u2019s stance is clear: Morant\u2019s actions, even without being charged with a crime, have severe consequences, particularly with gun violence a massive problem and the guard one of the league\u2019s most popular players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaving them around … is not consistent with gun safety and is not the proper message that an NBA player, particularly one at Ja\u2019s level, should be sending to the tens of millions of followers he has \u2014 and particularly when it\u2019s an incident once again, where it\u2019s been streamed live on social media,\u201d Silver said earlier this month at the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

\"Ja<\/p>\n

The suspension almost certainly means that Morant will not be eligible for any end-of-season awards in 2024, such as MVP and All-NBA. Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that goes into effect July 1, a player must appear in 65 games (with limited exceptions) to be eligible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also reasonable to think Morant will miss the league\u2019s inaugural in-season tournament expected to start this fall and end sometime in December. The league has yet to announce if the tournament is definitely happening, nor has it released the schedule.<\/p>\n

Silver said basketball needs to take a back seat for Morant before he can return to the NBA. Morant will have to finish a program with the league addressing the issues Silver said "led him to repeat this destructive behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morant\u2019s eight-game suspension cost him about $669,000 in forfeited salary after the first video surfaced on March 4 on his own Instagram account.<\/p>\n

The second video captured May 13 was widely shared online after being streamed by a Morant associate. That was the same friend Morant said in February had been banned from the Grizzlies' home arena for a year over a confrontation with members of the Indiana Pacers organisation a week earlier.<\/p>\n

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":"

Memphis guard Ja Morant has been suspended 25 games by the NBA \u2014 his second ban in four months \u2014 and Commissioner Adam Silver made […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296726,"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\/308969"}],"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=308969"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308972,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308969\/revisions\/308972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}