For all his appeal, he’s reckless enough to blow it up.
Appreciation of Morant’s skills now comes with concern about his decisions. The Washington Post has obtained police records that suggest he is more immature than the recent madness with the Indiana Pacers showed. This incident began with an on-field argument and ended with post-game allegations that someone in Morant’s SUV pointed a red laser believed to be from a gun at members of the Pacers organization. A league investigation led nowhere, and you figured the altercation would be one of the NBA’s few urban legends with little significance beyond perpetuating the sport’s dramatic reputation.
But look closer, and the Memphis Grizzlies star has been accused of involvement in other violent feuds over the past year. These include hitting a teenager “12 or 13 times” during a basketball game at Morant’s in Memphis last summer and later exposing a gun in his belt. Four days earlier, Morant and a group of about nine other people allegedly escalated a situation at a mall, responding to Morant’s mother, who called her son after an argument with a Finish Line shoe store employee. . The encounter resulted in the mall’s security chief telling police that Morant had “threatened” him and that one of the people with Morant pushed him in the head.
Morant was not punished for any of these incidents. Just as the NBA could not corroborate the Pacers’ allegations of wrongdoing, police did not arrest Morant or anyone with him. The teenager and his mother have filed a lawsuit against Morant over the fight, fueling the claim by Jim Tanner, the player’s agent, that all this smoke amounts to ‘unsubstantiated rumors and gossip’ from “people motivated to tear Ja down and tarnish her reputation for their own financial gain. The punches were thrown in self-defense and Morant had no weapon during the altercation, Tanner said.
Still, that’s too much reckless nonsense for a professional — an elite, franchise player — to get entangled with. Perhaps an allegation could be dismissed as inconsequential. Maybe even two, if spread over a longer period. But three conflicts in less than a year, in different settings and circumstances, all seemingly displaying the same kind of dangerously hot-headed instincts? The pattern cannot be ignored.
For some, there are people to test and exploit Morant. It is a fatality of fame. And it must be acknowledged that Morant, who spoke passionately after the ‘stunning, chilling and frustrating’ video of police killing Memphis resident Tire Nichols became public, is now an obvious target for law enforcement. just to be a black celebrity who cried out for justice. But even though it made opening his closet easier, Morant is responsible for the skeletons inside.
This shame is also his warning. He needs to relax before he goes too far for his fame to protect him.
Morant is a 23-year-old superstar experiencing the first bad look of his career. These are horrible things to be accused of: beating up a mess of a kid he was supposed to frame for a stupid basketball argument, playing with guns, acting like a jerk in public and becoming hostile to Security. Morant shouldn’t dismiss the criticism he receives just because authorities have refused to charge him with a crime. He shouldn’t get defiant like he did after Athletic detailed their clash with the Pacers in late January.
In response to this controversy, Morant posted on Twitter: “I made an investigation and I saw that they cappinaient. Let’s still let an article out to paint this negative image on me and my family. And they banned my brother from playing at home for a year. Amazing.”
This time he should assimilate the lesson. It’s Ja Morant, a famous basketball artist with his own Nike shoe. He signed a max contract extension last July worth $193 million that will increase to $231 million after making the all-NBA team at the end of the season. He looks certain to earn north of $500 million in NBA salaries alone. If he plays everything right, he could leave basketball as a billionaire. He came out of nowhere, from the winding roads of Dalzell, SC, to stardom. He’s got a lot to lose now, and as the competitor in him focuses on stopping those who might take it from him, he must realize he could steal it from himself if he doesn’t grow up.
Morant is no longer the unknown South Carolina kid desperate to grow up and defy expectations. He has to live up to expectations now. Because he plays with an ironclad intensity that could surprise a young Russell Westbrook, the concern was whether he could stay healthy. But it seems maintaining your body will be nothing compared to managing your emotions.
There are stakes for every decision Morant makes. He was the teenager who fought over nonsense with his peers, and it was just boys who were boys, his father still having enough authority to defuse. Now, if he can’t control himself, he’s the little millionaire bully who needs a speed dial lawyer to avoid legal action. As young athletes grow richer and more pampered, the NBA can be a tough place to mature as the culture of accountability diminishes with each generation. During the important years for their growth, they are more isolated than ever from real life, which can delay their development in two ways: It prevents them from remembering where they came from. Or it forces them to bring all their old baggage into their new life, creating the weirdest alternate universe in which everything is the same, except blanketed in opulence, entitlement, and a false sense of invincibility.
Morant is trapped in the latter. Only he can free himself, but he must first realize the need to free himself. If he continues like this, his reputation will be more troubling and controversial than how he is known today: as a charming late bloomer from Murray State University who dances the Griddy and takes on any challenge with a determination to speak. trash.
He is on a bad path. Defiance is part of his basketball charm. Responsibility had better be part of its evolution. For longevity reasons, Morant must start acting, at all times, like the star he aspired to be.