Following a series of cryptic social media posts from Ja Morant, police in Tennessee visited the home of the Grizzlies star to check on him, a spokesperson for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office tells TMZ Sports.
Morant had published Instagram stories telling his mother, father, and daughter that he loved them, followed by one that was simply captioned, “Bye.” He deleted them a short time later.
The police spokesperson tells TMZ Sports that Morant is “fine” and that he told the officers who came to his home that he’s simply taking a break from social media.
Morant has been suspended indefinitely from all team activities by the Grizzlies after an Instagram Live video appeared to show him brandishing a gun. The NBA’s investigation into that video is ongoing — given that Morant was suspended during the season for a similar incident, there’s an expectation that he’ll be facing another suspension at the start of the 2023/24 season.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Tim Cato of The Athletic breaks down some reasons why the Mavericks should trade the No. 10 overall pick and some reasons why they’ll consider keeping it. In Cato’s view, Dallas is more likely to move the pick than to hang onto it, but it remains to be seen how valuable a trade asset it will be — there may be some higher lottery picks available on the trade market, and the first- and second-tier prospects in this year’s draft class will likely be gone by No. 10.
- While much of the focus in Houston is on the No. 4 overall pick, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required) notes that the Rockets also control the No. 20 selection and considers which prospects could be on the team’s radar at that spot. Indiana’s Jalen Hood-Schifino and Ohio State’s Brice Sensabaugh are among the prospects in that range who get a look from Feigen.
- Asked on his podcast about the possibility of reuniting with James Harden in Houston, where he spent five seasons earlier in his NBA career, free-agent-to-be Patrick Beverley expressed enthusiasm about the idea of joining the Rockets and called Ime Udoka a “great” coach (Twitter video link via Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston).
Scary stuff. Hope he’s ok.
The Rockets really need to stop with the James Harden pursuit. Unless they’re going to try and trade all their young assets to try and build a superteam, they have no business bringing him in. And even that is a bad idea imo.
None of this harden “news” is coming from the Rockets. They’re not even allowed to talk about free agents right now because of the tampering rules. This is all coming from Harden’s camp to try to create a little bit of leverage with the 6ers to get a max deal (that he clearly does not deserve). Every free agent chasing a pay raise is going to use the rockets to create leverage because they have a bunch of cap space. But listen to the interviews with Stone and Ime and look at the moves they’ve made over the last two seasons and NOTHING signals they’d want to make a move like bringing back harden.
He can’t even troll right.
As a rockets fan, no to harden!
Thought you were a pirates fan?!?!
Joking aside Harden is my worst nightmare after going through 3 years of hell, because of him….. Just work on the kids they’ve committed to already and if you’re gonna make a big move chose someone that’ll fit the timeline. I’m sure harden is 10 years older than the current collective age!
Only amicable harden signing is him coming to be a mentor and wind down his career. On a team friendly decreasing contract at half the salary he’s expecting…..yeah that’ll never happen.
Ja Moron
What makes Ja’s behavior especially sad is that he has a 3yo daughter. Does he want her to grow up seeing her dad waiving around guns and acting fake hard on social media? It’s embarrassing and sets a terrible example.
Unfortunately, a number of adults are nothing more than overgrown children, including some much older than Ja (though I doubt many of them would be dumb enough to put their entire fortune at risk over such nonsense). And those folks will find any and all ways to justify their childish behavior and/or victim complex. Whether Ja ends up like them remains to be seen, but he’s certainly off to a great start in that regard.
I hate to accuse anyone of this but I truly think Morant might have done that to garner sympathy as if there’s some serious mental issues he’s going thru causing him to wave around a gun on social media. No one says goodbye to family members on social media without sounding like they are about to commit suicide. I seriously, seriously doubt that a) he completely controlled his own social media posts b) that social media is the method in which he does most of his communication with his mom, dad and siblings. Saying goodbye to your mom on IG because you’re taking a break from social media?
Sounds like a desperate attempt to gain sympathy.
He could just be tired of their negative vibe. His dad is just living his life through him. Best thing for him is to get away from all of them.
I’m sure his parents have a mansion on his estate like 50 feet from his own, so I doubt he’s trying to or can get away from them. If he wants to say bye, holla out the window.
But IMO, he has a lot of pressure on his shoulders(brought on himself). I hope he’s not in a bad way, self inflicted or not. It’s more likely he’s ditching social media for a while. Needs to sit with Curry or Lebron and learn how to act as a NBA rep in this era.
Best thing for Morant would be go to Europe and practice over there. Away from his friends and family. Relax and get the negative people out of his life. He is at a crossroads right now. One more bad move and his career is over in the NBA. next 4 months over seas away from his entourage would make him mature up.
No thanks, we don’t want him here. Send him to China or Russia or something. Thanks.
The only real issue with all this Ja stuff imo is that it may end up with him getting mixed up in a bad situation and end up like Will Smith (Saints). That was road rage, but most of us have been out to a club, late, drunk, and theres always some a-hole. A bad situation could turn fatal. And hes got a young kid. Needs to put himself in better situations. He’s not just a regular dude, hes famous, people will seek him out intentionally to start stuff.
Pat Bev is always welcome in the H.