Ja Morant is in the midst of potentially falling from grace in quite the bombastic way. After having established himself as an NBA superstar in less than 4 years, Morant has found himself in hot water with a litany of allegations and controversies revolving around guns and violence being placed against him.
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Most recently, Morant was seen at a club brandishing a firearm while in Denver. This led to a 2-game suspension with Grizzlies head coach, Taylor Jenkins, confirming that his superstar will be away from the team until he finds a way to help himself. Another part of the controversy is if Ja brought his gun on a flight to Denver.
With Ja seemingly not having the right people around him to advise him against certain activities, his father, Tee Morant, gets called out on national television.
Stephen A Smith on Tee Morant needing to step up
Ja Morant needs to surround himself with folks who can tell him what’s right and what’s wrong when it comes to the decisions he makes on a daily basis. That all starts with his parents making sure their 23-year-old son isn’t getting carried away with the fame and fortune.
Stephen A Smith recently took to First Take on ESPN with Kendrick Perkins and Brian Windhorst to address the same.
“Sir [Tee Morant], love and respect to you. Love seeing you at the games. I would remind you sir that you are his daddy, you are not his boy. Remember when there was the altercation at Staples Center involving Shannon Sharpe? His dad ended up in the middle of that. My advice to y’all: protect the asset,” said Smith.
Tim MacMahon echoed a similar sentiment on the Hoop Collective podcast. Essentially, Ja is missing guidance in his life from people who truly matter to him. Many have talked about the people who he considers to be friends who might be urging him to indulge in nefarious activities and if that is the case, he needs to find himself a better circle.
Ja Morant could leave hundreds of millions on the table
Ja Morant, in the 4 or so years that he’s been in the NBA, has signed a contract extension with the Memphis Grizzlies that could be worth up to $231 million. He’s also a Nike signature athlete with his highly anticipated ‘Ja 1’ set to release in April of 2023.
If Ja continues down the path he’s currently on, it would result in him losing all that he’s built up for himself and his family thus forth. There have been situations in the past where players have come back from situations like this but at the pace Morant is currently on, this may not be one of those cases.