Ja Morant will be suspended for 25 games during the 2023-24 NBA season. Around three times the length of his suspension in March, the revealed punishment is in line with most expectations. However, this means that the Grizzlies will likely be without Morant until early December. In the wake of the suspension news, Morant issued a statement apologizing for his actions and promising to be better. However, his apology has been met with a degree of skepticism from some people.
Prior to his suspension, Morant's representatives attempted to mitigate the punishment. Sources told Claudia Jordan of The Breakfast Club that the gun Morant was seen with on May 14 was a toy. Furthermore, these representatives claimed that the NBA had been provided evidence that the gun was fake. That evidence has now been made public.
Morant Filmed Video Showing Fake Gun
In a new video released by TMZ, Morant is seen lighting candles in his home with a gun-shaped lighter. This is reportedly the same "gun" that Morant flashed during the May 14 live stream that got him suspended. Morant reportedly made the video in response to family members asking him why he had flashed a gun on Instagram Live once again. Morant at no point argued that the gun wasn't real before his representatives spoke with Jordan. Furthermore, Morant went as far as to apologize for the incident after the Grizzlies suspended him in May.
However, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has already broken down why the gun's authenticity didn't matter to the league. Silver laid out his reasoning while appearing on The Dan Patrick Show. "Taking a gun, live streaming it without getting into gun issues in terms of the propriety of owning guns and the use of guns. I think everyone agrees that gun safety is critically important and that guns aren’t toys. It’s something that I’m thinking a lot about because, again, I’m not going to get into specifics about the investigation. But in fact, if you’re live streaming something to the world that looks exactly like a gun and in a frankly reckless manner, should it matter whether or not it’s a real gun?”
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