According to Memphis police documents obtained by the Washington Post, Memphis Grizzlies player Ja Morant was accused of repeatedly punching a teenage boy's head and threatening him with a gun last summer.
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Ja Morant is one of the NBA’s brightest young stars, with a new signature Nike sneaker, a top-selling jersey, and a club, the Memphis Grizzlies, primed for a long postseason run. Yet, according to previously unreported police documents obtained by The Washington Post, Morant and those connected to him have been accused of threatening and even violent conduct in a series of episodes dating back to last summer.
This summer, in an unreported incident, the head of security at a Memphis mall told police that Morant “threatened” him after an altercation in the parking lot, which worried him enough to make a police report. According to authorities, a member of Morant’s gang shoved the director in the head. According to the records, no arrests were made.
Morant repeatedly hit a teenage kid in the head during a pickup basketball game at Morant’s residence four days later, according to the victim. According to a police report narrative made by deputies who saw the boy’s injuries, Morant and his companion beat the 17-year-old so hard that he knocked him to the ground and left him with a “large knot” on the side of his head.
According to previously unseen police interviews acquired by The Post, Morant told officers from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office that after the struggle, he returned to his house and re-emerged with a gun visible in the waistline of his jeans and his hand on the weapon.
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Ja Morant said to police that he acted in self-defense. “I swung first,”
He informed authorities that the youngster was the aggressor because he tossed a ball at Morant’s head and then approached him, tugging up his trousers. “The ball was the first hit to me,” Morant told cops.
During the interview, police referenced the boy’s claim that Morant flashed a pistol but did not question Morant about it.
Morant told authorities that as the youngster was leaving, shouting, “I’m gonna come back and light this place up like fireworks.” Weeks after the encounter, according to data acquired by The Post, Morant filed a police report about the boy’s statement, stating the teenager had threatened his family.
The Shelby County District Attorney stated in a statement that prosecutors evaluated the matter but declined to press charges. They “decided that there was not enough evidence to proceed with a case,” a spokesperson said.
At the time, neither event was made public. Morant, 23, started the recent NBA All-Star Game and has led the Grizzlies to the second-best record in the Western Conference. Nonetheless, he has been embroiled in public controversy in recent weeks as the NBA investigates an accusation that someone in Morant’s car aimed a gun’s laser sight toward members of the Indiana Pacers organization.
The Grizzlies did not respond to requests for comment. According to an NBA spokesperson, the league “takes allegations of inappropriate conduct very seriously.” The NBA requires teams to disclose “incidents involving players and law enforcement,” according to the spokesman, but he would to say if the Grizzlies reported either of the July 2022 incidents or whether the NBA had conducted an investigation.
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