Ja Morant Needs to Take Responsibility
Ja Morant needs to take responsibility for his actions, stop playing the victim, and understand basic gun safety.
The latest report claims Ja Morant feels the Media and NBA are out to get him.
In the wake of Ja Morant’s latest mockery of firearms, the NBA decided to finally put their foot down and slapped him with a 25-game suspension without pay, effective immediately. After multiple instances where Morant chose to wave a gun, or what he claims was a toy gun, it seems pretty reasonable for the NBA to make this decision. Frankly, a lot of people, myself included, thought the suspension should have been a lot longer. Others, like J.J. Redick, stupidly insisted that Ja Morant had not broken any laws and should double down on that stance.
Charles Barkley however, to put it mildly, disagreed.
“If you want to do all that stuff and give all that money back, more power to you…’I want to flash my gun and make videos and do things.’ Ok, that's fine, but you can't make money on the NBA doing this stuff…I just hope that he grows up and realize like, yo, man, first of all, you’re not a thug. You’re not a criminal. You’re not a crook. You’re a guy making $100 million a year to dribble a stupid basketball… There are people out there working nine to five, 80 to 90 hours a week going to make $25,000 a year. They would kill to be in our situation."
Barkley correctly pointed out that there are certain things that come with being a professional basketball player, and being held to a high standard is certainly part of it. Ja Morant is not some idiot on TikTok, he is the face of the Memphis Grizzlies and one of the NBA’s faces too.
Despite this, instead of taking accountability for his actions, the latest report from ESPN’s Tim MacMahon indicates that “Ja and people close to Ja, perhaps people formerly close to Ja, have this feeling that the NBA is out to get them. That the media is out to get them.”
If this turns out to be true, and he still does not understand the seriousness of this case, then Morant’s whole career could be on the line given how important responsible gun use is. NBA players like Paul Pierce have admitted to carrying a gun after being stabbed 11 times in 2000. Barkley went on to say he carries a gun and hires armed security. Given other instances of racial slurs, threats, or even objects being thrown at NBA players in recent years, it's understandable why they might feel the need for extra protection.
But anyone who has ever stepped foot in a gun range understands that Ja Morant’s behavior is incredibly reckless and inappropriate, even if the gun was fake. There are many instances of people being shot over their reckless use of a fake gun because most of the time they look real and people tend to react poorly when they think they're at imminent risk of being shot. It might be a joke to him, but to someone nearby who doesn’t know what is going on, it is definitely not.
So Ja Morant has reached a turning point in his career. Whether he’s able to improve himself, get back to playing great basketball, and keep the focus on how the Memphis Grizzlies can win a championship will be entirely up to him.
