The NBA Will Suspend Ja Morant 25 Games For His Latest Gun Incident

The Memphis Grizzlies learned how long they will be without the services of Ja Morant on Friday morning. Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Morant, who was investigated by the NBA for a firearm-related incident that occurred back in May, will miss the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season.

Wojnarowski added that there will be conditions Morant needs to meet in order to return, although it’s unclear what they will be.

The NBA confirmed the news in a statement, which included remarks from Silver that referred to the incident as “alarming and disconcerting given his similar conduct in March for which he was already suspended eight games.”

This marks the second time in the last three-plus months that Morant has received a suspension for the NBA for a situation related to a firearm. Back in March, Morant was recorded waving around a gun in a Denver nightclub, and while he received an 8-game suspension from the league, the decision retroactively included games and came down after he stepped away from the Grizzlies for six games and entered a counseling program. As part of his return to play, Morant went to the NBA office in New York City and sat down with Adam Silver.

His most recent incident came in May, when Morant was sitting in the front seat of a car that wasn’t moving. One of his friends was live on Instagram when Morant pulled out a gun, which led to the Grizzlies suspending him from all team activities. In his press conference prior to the start of the NBA Finals, Silver told the press that the league’s investigation uncovered additional information, but the decision was made to wait until after the series was over to announce a decision out of respect to the teams competing for a title.