Memphis guard Ja Morant is under investigation by the NBA after he livestreamed on Instagram himself holding what appeared to be a gun early Saturday. Karen Pulfer/Associated Press
Ja Morant will be away from the Memphis Grizzlies for at least their next two games, the team said Saturday, not long after the NBA opened an investigation into a social media post by the guard after he livestreamed himself holding what appeared to be a gun at a nightclub.
Morant said in a statement distributed through the agency that represents him that he takes “full responsibility” for his actions – adding that he was going to “take some time away to get help.”
The video was streamed by Morant to his Instagram page, and it was not archived once he stopped the stream. The Grizzlies played in Denver on Friday night; they fly to Los Angeles on Saturday for games against the Clippers on Sunday and the Lakers on Tuesday.
Morant will miss those two games, at minimum, the Grizzlies said, without any further comment.
“We are aware of a social media post involving Ja Morant and are investigating,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said earlier Saturday.
The league, if it finds wrongdoing, could fine or suspend Morant. Based on the Grizzlies’ statement, the earliest Morant could play again is Thursday at home against Golden State. His Instagram and Twitter accounts were disabled on Saturday, shortly after the Grizzlies announced his two-game absence.
Memphis is currently No. 2 in the Western Conference standings, led by Morant, a two-time All-Star averaging 27.1 points and 8.2 assists per game.
This is at least the second time in the last few weeks that Morant has been the subject of a league investigation. Morant’s actions were investigated by the league after a Jan. 29 incident in Memphis that he said led to a friend of his being banned from home games there for a year.
That incident was following a game against the Indiana Pacers; citing unnamed sources, The Indianapolis Star and USA Today reported that multiple members of the Pacers saw a red dot pointed at them, and The Athletic reported that a Pacers security guard believed the laser was attached to a gun.
The NBA confirmed that unnamed individuals were banned from the arena but said its investigation found no evidence that anyone was threatened with a weapon.
Morant responded to that incident by tweeting that the reports “paint this negative image on me and my fam. & banned my brother from home games for a year. unbelievable.” During the Jan. 29 game, there was barking between Pacers players and friends of Morant seated along the sideline. A close friend of Morant’s, Davonte Pack, was escorted from the arena as Pacers bench players shouted in Pack’s direction.
Pack and Morant also are involved in a civil lawsuit brought after an incident at Morant’s home this past summer, in which a 17-year-old alleged that they assaulted him. The Shelby County district attorney’s office said in January that it was “aware of the incident, and after careful review of the facts, decided that there was not enough evidence to proceed with a case.”
There is precedent for the NBA when sanctioning a player over conduct involving guns. In January 2010, then-Commissioner David Stern suspended Washington’s Gilbert Arenas indefinitely without pay after saying the player’s behavior made him “not currently fit to take the court.”
The suspension followed Arenas getting photographed before a game in Philadelphia playfully pointing his index fingers in a gun imitation at his teammates while he was under investigation by federal and local authorities after admittedly bringing guns into the Wizards’ locker room.
Arenas ultimately missed 50 games, the rest of the 2009-10 season.
• Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke tore his left Achilles tendon and will be out indefinitely, the team announced.
Clarke was injured Friday night late in the first quarter of the Grizzlies’ 113-97 loss to the Nuggets, a showdown of the top two teams in the Western Conference.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
RAPTORS 116, WIZARDS 109: Fred VanVleet made two 3-pointers in overtime and scored 25 points, and Toronto won in Washington to split their two-game series.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 26 points to lead the Raptors, who bounced back from their 119-108 loss Thursday night to move back ahead of the Wizards into ninth place in the Eastern Conference.
VanVleet added 10 assists and Pascal Siakam had 15 points and seven assists for Toronto.
Kristaps Porzingis had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Wizards. Bradley Beal added 21 points and 10 assists, but shot just 7 for 22 and missed a jumper that could have won it in regulation.
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