Grizzlies’ Ja Morant blamed ‘heavy drinking’ for first gun video

When Ja Morant met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and other league officials following his first gun incident in March, the Grizzlies star blamed his actions on “heavy drinking” that night, according to The Athletic.

That aligned with what the league originally said when it suspended Morant for eight games in March for “holding a firearm in an intoxicated state while visiting a Denver area nightclub,” the NBA said in its release at the time.

Morant reportedly called into a meeting that included Silver, NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars and Tamika Tremaglio, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, to discuss what happened when the guard flashed a gun in a video while at the Denver-area strip club, and the outlet reported that Morant’s apology was “humble and contrite” — and the meeting lasted for more than an hour.

The commissioner was “hopeful” the suspension “would be the end of [Morant’s] nonsense,” The Athletic reported.

But when a second video emerged in May, with Morant flashing a gun while in a car, the league responded with the 25-game suspension, announced Friday.

“Ja Morant’s decision to once again wield a firearm on social media is alarming and disconcerting given his similar conduct in March for which he was already suspended eight games,” Silver said in a statement Friday when the suspension was announced.

“The potential for other young people to emulate Ja’s conduct is particularly concerning. Under these circumstances, we believe a suspension of 25 games is appropriate and makes clear that engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior with guns will not be tolerated.

“For Ja, basketball needs to take a back seat at this time. Prior to his return to play, he will be required to formulate and fulfill a program with the league that directly addresses the circumstances that led him to repeat this destructive behavior.”

The first gun video involving Morant was filmed on Instagram Live inside a strip club with the team on a road trip that included a stop against the Nuggets, and afterward, Morant said that he was “going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”

That included checking himself into a Florida counseling center ahead of his eventual return, when his father, Tee, and uncle, Phil, both donned t-shirts with “REDEMPTION” printed across the front.

But the May 14 gun incident started to undermine that progress.

Morant was suspended indefinitely from team activities, though the Grizzlies had already been eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Lakers — ending Morant’s fourth professional season, where the former No. 2 overall pick averaged 26.2 points per game.

That video led to the league’s second suspension, which the National Basketball Players Association called “excessive and inappropriate for a number of reasons,” and Bleacher Report added that the suspension’s length and “unstated conditions he is required to fulfill upon returning” might lead to the NBPA appealing the decision for Morant.