Ja Morant, the young and talented point guard for the Memphis Grizzlies, has definitely made a name for himself both on and off the court.
I could talk about the problems with Ja Morant, like him taking risks, which usually results in turnovers, or even his constant desire to dunk, which results in him injuring himself, but I’m not a basketball expert. Rather, I want to talk about Ja’s off-court behavior and how that is affecting his image and career.
I just started getting into the NBA, so I don't know much about the stats, but Ja Morant's off-court behavior has grabbed more of my attention than his on-court playing. In March, Ja was seen in a video that he posted at a strip club while waving a gun in his hand. This led to an eight-game NBA suspension that cost him about $669,000 in salary. At the same time, police reports came out that accused Ja of punching a teen in the head during a pickup basketball game at his house and then, after the fight, going back into his house and re-emerging with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on it. And now, for the second time, he was seen on Instagram holding what appeared to be a gun, causing him to be suspended from all activities with his team now that they are out of the playoffs.
I just started getting into the NBA, so I don't know much about the stats, but Ja Morant's off-court behavior has grabbed more of my attention than his on-court playing. In March, Ja was seen in a video that he posted at a strip club while waving a gun in his hand. This led to an eight-game NBA suspension that cost him about $669,000 in salary. At the same time, police reports came out that accused Ja of punching a teen in the head during a pickup basketball game at his house and then, after the fight, going back into his house and re-emerging with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on it. And now, for the second time, he was seen on Instagram holding what appeared to be a gun, causing him to be suspended from all activities with his team now that they are out of the playoffs.
After the first incident, ESPN reported that he was getting counseling in Florida, and when he made a return at his first game back, he said, " I made a bad mistake, and I can see the image that I painted over myself with my recent mistakes. But in the future, I’m going to show everybody who Ja really is, what I’m about, and change this narrative." But it seems that he didn't really mean anything he said because, in under 3 months, he did it again.
Ja’s repeated suspensions are not doing him any favors; they're ruining his reputation, to the point that he is actively endangering his position in the NBA.
Ja’s repeated suspensions are not doing him any favors; they're ruining his reputation, to the point that he is actively endangering his position in the NBA.
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He's a very profitable player; he is a young, attractive player that actually has skills and talent. People are willing to go to Grizzlies games just to see him play. Along with his profitability, he's signing deals left and right, having endorsement deals with Nike and Powerade ads, and now he's supposed to be getting his own shoe. Ja Morant comes from a regular background, having been raised in the suburbs of South Carolina, but he constantly wants to act as something he clearly is not. Most people can only dream about making it to the NBA, and here he is, actually in the NBA, making his chances of staying look more slim the longer he acts this way. |
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As I said earlier in this article, I don't know much about basketball. I was first introduced to Ja from a Tik Tok about how attractive he is, but what I do know is that he has so much potential that it hurts to watch him constantly behave like this. He has the potential to become one of the league's top point guards and lead the Memphis Grizzlies to success in the future, like going farther into the playoffs than they did this year, but if he keeps this behavior up, he WILL be getting kicked out of the NBA as he is already losing respect from past and current players, corporations, and us, the fans.
betty rivers
BALm 22-23 senior
