The NBA has investigated Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant’s latest gun-flashing video on social media but won’t announce any action on the matter until after the NBA Finals, commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday.
Speaking before game one of the championship series between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat, Silver said the league had discovered “a fair amount of additional information” about Morant.
“We probably could have brought it to a head now, but we made the decision — and I believe the players association agrees with us — that it would be unfair to these players and these teams in the middle of this series to announce the results of that investigation,” Silver said.
The commissioner said a decision on possible further sanctions against Morant would be announced “shortly after the conclusion of the Finals.”
Silver also said an individual player’s history is considered while determining a player’s discipline.
“It’s not an exact science,” Silver said. “It comes down to judgment at the end of the day on the part of me and my colleagues in the league office.”
The Grizzlies suspended Morant from all team activities pending an NBA review on May 14, after a new video appearing to show the star guard flashing a gun surfaced on social media.
The All-Star had already been suspended by the NBA for eight games this season, for conduct detrimental to the league, after he went on Instagram Live while holding a handgun while intoxicated at a night club.
After his suspension in March, Morant told reporters he had received therapy to help him manage stress, describing the treatment he had received as “an ongoing process.”
At the time Silver called Morant’s conduct “irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous,” but said the player had “expressed sincere contrition and remorse for his behavior.”
After the Grizzlies were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers, Morant said he needed to be more disciplined.
“I’ve just got to be better with my decision-making,” he said. “That’s pretty much it. Off-the-court issues affected us as an organization pretty much. Just (need) more discipline.”
On May 14, during an Instagram Live session on the account of a friend, Morant appears to flash a handgun while riding in the passenger seat of a car and singing along to a rap song.
That prompted the Grizzlies to suspend him.
