The best way athletes can express themselves after making a difficult or important shot is by celebrating it on the floor. In basketball, we have seen several iconic celebrations, such as Stephen Curry’s ‘Night Night’ and Damian Lillard’s ‘Dame Time.’ LeBron James also has the iconic ‘Silencer’ celebration.
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However, when Ja Morant does his ‘Finger Gun’ celebration, it becomes a hot topic. In the last few days, Morant has hit his celly a few times, sparking a series of debates on whether he should be allowed to do so or not.
Amidst the backlash that Ja is facing, LeBron poured gas on the raging debate. The Lakers played the Warriors tonight at home. With less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were down 10 points. Then, LeBron hit a corner three to cut their lead down to seven and celebrated his shot with Morant’s celebration.
Lebron and Steph going 3 for 3 with Kevin Harlan screaming “GOOOOOOOD”
Peak Hoops.
pic.twitter.com/S8Yy49pnbL— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 4, 2025
This move didn’t sit well with fans as they don’t want to see the 40-year-old do the same thing that has brought a lot of ridicule to Morant. One fan called LeBron an “idiot” for the Shooter celly. The fan wrote, “LeBron is an idiot. U hitting draymond with the JA and u guys are losing the game.”
LeBron is an idiot. U hitting draymond with the JA and u guys are losing the game
— 🚀🚀🚀 (@_DJFiasco) April 4, 2025
Fans believe that Morant should’ve learned from his mistakes by now, but he seems careless about his actions and their consequences. While there’s a lot of noise against his celebration, there are people who don’t see any problem with it. In fact, several fans are outlining the double standards in the NBA.
Shams Charania recently reported, “The NBA is looking into Memphis’ Ja Morant using finger gun motions toward the Golden State Warriors bench last night.” Reacting to this news, a fan wrote, “The NBA never cared about ‘finger gun motions’ until Ja Morant did it.” The fan’s claim is true. Morant isn’t the only one who does the shooting celebration.
The NBA never cared about ‘finger gun motions’ until Ja Morant did it…pic.twitter.com/fwKiidXaUx https://t.co/TZdROOPwUj
— Steven Adams Stats (@funakistats) April 2, 2025
But he is the only player who is targeted for it. While a case can be made that he is the only one with gun charges in the past, it doesn’t eliminate the fact that he is unfairly trashed for the same. Fortunately, the outside noise doesn’t seem to have any effect on Morant. The Grizzlies’ superstar did the same celebration against the Miami Heat tonight.
Ja Morant after the 3PM. 👀
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 4, 2025
It’ll be interesting to see if the NBA punishes Morant for his choice of celebration. For now, seeing a superstar like LeBron break out the same celly is a positive sign for Morant.