Los Angeles (USA), May 17 (EFE).- Ja Morant, suspended again by the Memphis Grizzlies after a second video in which he appeared with a firearm, assured that he assumes responsibility for what happened and insisted that he will continue working to improve his attitude off the pitch.
“I know that I have disappointed many people who have supported me,” he said in a statement released Tuesday to the US media in the middle of the first game of the Western final between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers.
“This is a journey and I recognize that there is more work to be done. My words may not mean much right now but I take full responsibility for my actions. I am committed to continuing to work on myself,” he added.
Morant’s statement came just hours after NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was “shocked” last Sunday when he saw a new video on social media of Morant in which he appeared with a gun just two months later. that he was penalized with an eight-game suspension for the same reason.
“The first time we talked directly about the consequences of his action, we focused on the misconduct and our conversation turned to the seriousness of that gesture,” Silver said on ESPN in Chicago, where he was to celebrate the lottery. of the 2023 NBA draft.
“An eight-game ban was very serious and I thought he took it very seriously. We talked about it and what he could mean not only in his career, but also about the risks, of being able to kill someone with such behavior, ”he added.
Silver met Morant at the NBA headquarters in New York in March after the same player filmed himself holding a gun in one hand at a Colorado nightclub.
The commissioner decided to sanction him with eight games, but just two months later, last Sunday, Morant reappeared in a video on social networks with a weapon in his left hand while singing and dancing inside a friend’s car.
“He is a star, he has a lot of following. Millions, even tens of millions of children see her doing what she was doing,” Silver said.
“I had the idea that the first sanction had been taken seriously. I was honestly in ‘shock’ when I saw the video. We’re investigating, trying to understand what happened. We are going to understand it, ”she promised.
It’s a new chapter for one of the most talented young players in the NBA, whose behaviors off the court can ruin a stellar career.
On February 6, it was learned that Morant’s entourage was under investigation by the NBA after being accused by the Indiana Pacers of having pointed a red laser, possibly from a weapon, against members of his coaching staff after an altercation. on January 29 in Memphis.
At the Grizzlies-Pacers, Morant was involved in an altercation in the third period with the Dominican Chris Duarte and, at the end of the duel, the Grizzlies leader confronted some members of the visiting team in the bus parking lot.
Subsequently, Morant got into a car with people around him and the Pacers coaching staff assures that he saw a red laser aimed at them.
In addition, it was learned that Morant was accused of having beaten and threatened a 17-year-old boy with a gun.
The events go back to last summer, when in the space of four days Morant was accused of threatening a member of the security force of a Memphis shopping center during an altercation and of threatening a 17-year-old boy with a gun after a fight during a basketball game at the player’s home.
