There has to be a strict discipline for such behavior, and I think Adam Silver got it right with this suspension. The NBA and commissioner Adam Silver has suspended Grizzlies superstar guard Ja Morant for 8 games in light of his nightclub-gun video that has set the NBA world on fire these last few weeks.
You’d have to be living under a rock if you were an NBA fan to have missed Ja Morant, one of the upcoming franchise superstar and face of the NBA, getting placed on voluntary suspension by the Memphis Grizzlies for his behavior in an Instagram Live video that saw him reckless waving a gun around.
And, if you were living under a rock, you would have most likely also missed Morant’s decision to get counseling and help in Florida to steer him away from the dark path he was heading down…and to also mitigate the suspension the NBA was undoubtably going to hand down upon him.
Now, I’m not saying that Morant only sought help to avoid the NBA’s consequences over his actions, but it mostly definitely saved him from a half year, year, and maybe even a two-year ban from the league.
I mean, if you’re in Morant’s shoes, you can’t expect Adam Silver and the league to not punish you after you and your entourage got into verbal altercations with fans, fought with opposing teams and coaching staffs, allegedly pointed laser beams at opposing team staff members, allegedly assault minors (17-year-old minors) back in Memphis over a dispute from a rec-game, allegedly threaten mall security guards, and then wave around guns on IG Live like some sort of wannabe gangster.
Sure, Morant has the right to do whatever he wants as dictated by the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights (which is a part of the Constitution), but such actions have consequences if he’s employed by an organization that specifically prohibits such acts. And that’s exactly what has happened today as the NBA suspended him for the next 8 games of the Grizzlies season, even though he’s already voluntarily missed the last 5 games.
But, like I said, Morant really did get a light sentence from the league as if this happened to Allen Iverson back in the late 1990’s or Kyrie Irving earlier this year, they’d have gotten a whole year ban at the least. No doubt about it.
Everyone remembers Gilbert Arenas getting banned for over half the season (50 games) back in 2009 for daring his teammate Javaris Crittenton to shoot him, even though it was all supposed to be a joke spewing from a cards game dispute.
If Iverson, who was despised by former NBA Commissioner David Stern and the rest of the league office in the 90’s, or Irving, who is despised by many in the NBA today, were running around starting fights, threating innocent people, and nonsensically waving guns around, their careers would have been put on life support.
Thus, seeing how what Morant did was not a joke (like Arenas’ incident) and looked to be a serious boast to his IG followers, an 82-game ban from the league if he didn’t show remorse or intent to change would have been completely appropriate.
So, in the end, I’m glad Ja Morant and his family recognized he needed serious help and took the necessary steps to get it.
Moreover, I’m also glad Adam Silver and the league didn’t “crucify” a young player with an excessive ban as he made a stupid mistake that he’s now taking full accountability for.
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