It's a bit sad, although TL doesn't deserve to be in the same sentence as Isaac. He's played more minutes in the last 10 days than Isaac will have played in the last 3 seasons.
In-season NBA news thread
- Thread starter nattysez
- Start date
The CBA has an express provision regarding firearms, 6.9. In addition to prohibiting a possession at any facility or venue
"At the commencement of each Season, and if the player owns or possesses any firearm, the player will provide the Team with proof that the player possesses a license or registration as required by law for any such firearm. Each player is also required to provide the Team with proof of any modifications or additions made to this information during the Season."
If Moran ran afoul of that provision, I would expect Silver to take action given that the IG fiasco comes in the midst of a rash of negative stories.
In my view, everything turns on what the league can prove about that incident with the Pacers. If it is somehow established that Morant was in that vehicle and someone had a gun pointed at the Pacers’ traveling party, then nothing Silver does would surprise me, including banning Morant for life. In the more likely event that what happened that night remains unclear, I think there’s also a wide range of potential outcomes based solely on the Instagram photo, but even in a worst-case scenario he’ll be back to start next season. Whether Morant complied with the CBA provision @Swedgin cited will matter a lot — though compliance with league rules won’t get him off the hook entirely, as carrying a firearm in a licensed establishment is illegal just about everywhere.
From the WaPo piece:
I am not a Ja apologist - he shouldn't be hitting anyone, let alone a 17 year old, he shouldn't be flashing guns or pretending to flash guns and members of his entourage shouldn't be antagonizing people at games. But given how narratives are the truth these days, we ought to at least acknowledge facts when we have them. There was no proof that anyone had a gun in that Pacers incident but it shouldn't have happened regardless.
Finally, the league has PR work ahead of it between the Ja stories and the presumed return of people like Miles Bridges and maybe even Udoka.
There have also been reports that people declined to report the incident with the Pacers’ bus for fear of retaliation. It’s likely that whatever happened that night will remain unknown or ambiguous, but it’s at least possible that new evidence will come to light. The other allegations are less serious — not trivial, but not Gilbert Arenas-level.
Let's start with:
"The league’s investigation of the allegation involving the Pacers 'did not corroborate that any individual threatened others with a weapon,' the spokesperson said...."
That is a lawyer's statement if ever there was one.
The report was that a red laser emanated from a vehicle containing Morant associates. So how would one "corroborate" that "an individual" "threatened others with a weapon" in those circumstances? Absent a hidden camera in the vehicle, that requires someone in the vehicle to admit to either having pointed said weapon or witnessed someone else pointed said weapon. Last I checked, the NBA did not have the ability to threaten criminal prosecution, so query how forthcoming do we expect the occupants of the vehicle to have been with the NBA's investigators?
Here's the real question, do you think it's more likely someone in that vehicle 1) had a firearm with a laser sight or 2) randomly has a red laser with them so that they could, ala Walter White/Breaking Bad finale, make others think they were being targeted by a shooter?
When setting those odds, Morant's decision to flash a gun on IG live - after those allegations were already public, is a consideration.
I don't know if anyone in that entourage had a gun but I agree that the news of the past few weeks suggests its definitely possible. I was simply pointing out that the league stated they investigated and did not find that a weapon was involved. Of course its going to be a lawyer statement - what official statements these days are not unless they are being authored by folks who are likely to have manifesto to share as well?
I honestly am a bit surprised at the push back here. I have not stated that Morant is good or innocent or anything like that at all.
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I think his point was... they didn't say that they didn't find that a weapon was involved, but rather that they couldn't "corroberate that any individual threatened another with a weapon" which is a much more specific reading of both the situation and the level of proof. Your statement makes it seem like they said "oh there was no weapon, this didn't happen", when really what they said was "we can't prove that Ja's entourage in particular threatened Pacers staff with a weapon."
Overall it doesn't really matter, we have more than enough other evidence that Ja Morant is a piece of shit who likes to cosplay as a gangster and needs to turn his shit around quick or he's likely to eat a bullet in some Memphis parking lot.
Regardless of what one might think of owning a gun for protection, what Ja has been doing goes way, way beyond that. He is not in trouble for carrying a gun.
Between Pierce’s gun take and Perkins deleted racism video this has not been the best week for ex-Celtics and social media.
Did the perkins one "blow over"? Even for him, i thought it was really fn stupid and racist. How did he keep his job.
I’m willing to cut Pierce a lot of slack given what he went through, but that doesn’t mean I think he was right.
Jalen Rose's take is worth posting here:
View: https://twitter.com/JalenRose/status/1632208266523541504?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/JalenRose/status/1632208266523541504?s=20
Lmao Ja is brandishing his guns at 17 year-olds over pickup games. Really fighting the power there.
Gjge Paul.
How can you post this without fully understanding the dynamics of that pickup game? Like, if there’s a 2-game wait and it’s game point I may give Ja a pass on that one. Situations matter.
Yeah, what seems to be missing from all of these athlete responses and people defending Ja is that he seems to WANT this image. Like this isn’t the way he grew up (he went to private school in the burbs of South Carolina).
it’s really hard for me to feel a ton of sympathy for a guy who seems to be acting out his fantasy of being a gangster in the dumbest ways possible.
EDIT: Bomani Jones and Dominique Foxworth talked about Ja on a podcast last Friday. It’s definitely worth a listen. Their conclusion is that this is all on Ja (as opposed to the “wrong circle” a lot of people are trying to run with. They also mentioned that Tee Morant appears to want to be a member of the crew more than doing anything to discipline Ja
I agree with the former, and I get the idea behind the later, in that Tee Morant does seem to be embarrassingly interested in being in the entourage, BUT... the idea he can discipline Ja is kind of silly. Ja is not only a grown man at 23 years old, he's a guy with tens of millions in the bank, and more than a quarter billion in future money coming... what is his dad gonna do ground him?
NBA players either learn self-discipline or fail, nobody on the outside is going to change that. Maybe 20 years ago you get a Melo type thing where Stern just starts arbitrarily punishing you and calls you in and tells you "get your shit together or I'll make your life miserable", but that doesn't really fly now.
Talk about a team chemistry land mine. Teammates will probably be interviewed by NBA, which would put them in a really bad spot, if he was actually dumb enough to bring the gun on the plane and they knew about it.
Unless one of them rats him out, which I can’t imagine happening, how would they prove the gun was on the plane?
They can’t and his teammates clearly won’t talk. Not really sure how they intend to investigate this.
If they find out it was his gun, then it's just a matter of connect the dots that he had to have taken it with him on a plane (or had one of his flunkies do the same). Now obviously Ja can just say "not my gun/someone handed it to me in the club" but I imagine an investigation could at least determine how likely/unlikely his ownership is.
Not like they need to have proof equivalent to a criminal court. A circumstantial case could be enough to justify a suspension.
Not like they need to have proof equivalent to a criminal court. A circumstantial case could be enough to justify a suspension.
what the heck, I'll play Matlock here:
if Ja committed the crime of carrying a concealed weapon on an airplane and gets indicted by the FBI or ATF or DHS or some other Alphabet Soup organization he's in more hot water than an Adam Silver grounding.
Teammates/trainers/coaches/eyewitnesses could get deposed, right?
If I'm JJJ's Agent and the choice is lying to the Feds or "ratting" out the moron, I'm advising JJJ to tell them everything you know/saw.
Feds? I haven’t followe this case closely but is it a federal crime to carry on a privately chartered plane?
You have to declare it, unload it, put in a special hard bag, and check it in. That's what guys on hunting trips would go through (not me)
Yea, there are so many tangents with this, none of which are good.
I'm wondering if we see Ja again this season?
If Ja illegally brought a gun on a plane I could see him getting suspended for a long time, perhaps to the end of the season.
Part of this is the history of racism in this country, but the NBA has to take it's image very seriously, and one of the youngest, most marketable players flashing a gun and bringing it on a plane, and allegedly pointing it towards league employees, is something they have to swing the hammer down on.
Part of this is the history of racism in this country, but the NBA has to take it's image very seriously, and one of the youngest, most marketable players flashing a gun and bringing it on a plane, and allegedly pointing it towards league employees, is something they have to swing the hammer down on.
I don't think this is necessarily true. Many times it is the airline you charter that requires these things but not all do
If the NBA concludes Ja brought a gun onto the plane, it's an automatic 50 game suspension per the CBA. It's already been agreed to. It has nothing to do with racism or skin color. It would be the same if a white player brought a gun onto the plane.
Edit: https://www.si.com/nba/grizzlies/news/report-ja-morant-could-face-50-game-suspension-for-gun-violation
Actually, looks like the original reports are getting walked back. Sounds like it's against the cba but the length of suspension isn't pre-determined.
I suspect the Memphis Grizzlies chartered flights are more stringent (commercial-like) than a smaller private Cessna. If thats what you are alluding to
The hedge fund clients that I knew had to have their specific shotguns (some Italian-named shotguns) when they hunted so they jumped through hoops to bring them along on smaller private jets.
The investigation does not need any of Ja's teammates to "talk". The onus will be on Morant. The NBA will ask, at minimum, 1) whose gun was it and 2) how did Morant come to be in possession of the gun in Denver. It is not as simple as having a friend claim its his gun, because of the locale. Unless Morant has a Colorado fall guy, the friend needs an explanation (that can withstand of modicum of scrutiny) as to how the gun made its way to Denver.