There are troubling allegations surrounding the alleged pickup basketball fight between Ja Morant and a teenage boy in July. According to the Washington Post, the teenager claimed Morant went into his house and re-emerged with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on the weapon. This happened shortly after Morant reportedly punched the teenage boy in the head during a pickup basketball game at Morant’s house in Tennessee.
Morant was interviewed by police and said he was acting in self-defense. “I swung first,” Morant told detectives, but he believed the boy was the aggressor because he threw the ball at Morant’s head and stepped toward him. “The ball was to me the first hit,” Morant added while also telling police that as the boy left, he shouted, “I’m gonna come back and light this place up like fireworks.”
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TMZ Sports reported in January the story of Morant punching the boy, which led to a lawsuit filed in September. Police investigated for weeks before submitting the case to the district attorney’s office on Oct. 4. Less than a month later the district attorney decided not to move forward with charges due to lack of evidence. Morant’s agent, Jim Tanner, described the allegations as “unsubstantiated rumors and gossip are being put out by people motivated to tear Ja down and tarnish his reputation for their own financial gain.”
“Any and every allegation involving a firearm has been fully investigated and could not be corroborated. This includes the NBA investigation last month, in which they found no evidence,” Tanner continued while adding the incident “was purely self-defense. Again, after this was fully investigated by law enforcement, they came to the decision not to charge Ja with any crime.”
Morant, 23, was selected No. 2 overall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2019 NBA Draft and has emerged as one of the best points guards in the NBA. After winning Rookie of the Year in 2020, Morant had a breakout season during the 2021-22 season, averaging 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game, leading to him being named to the All-NBA Second Team and winning the Most Improved Player Award. Morant has also been elected to play in the All-Star game the last two years.
