Hello everyone and welcome back to the Huddle. Today we will be discussing the Ja Morant situation currently ongoing in the NBA.
For those who do not know, Ja Morant is one of the best young rising stars in the NBA today because of his unbelievable athleticism and excellent basketball IQ and fundamentals.
Morant’s abilities put him in a position to be drafted second overall in the 2019 NBA draft. He was drafted to the Memphis Grizzles where he immediately became a superstar.
Morant soared in his rookie season, capturing the rookie of the year award for his efforts, which made his stardom shine even brighter. But a star that shines twice as bright burns half as long.
Morant would continue his successful run as one of the best players in the NBA ,as he single-handedly willed the Grizzles back to the playoffs. They would lose in the first round, but the buzz and hype surrounding Morant grew.
As the years and seasons went on, Morant and the Grizzles got better and better and were seemingly on their way to being a contender for the Larry O’Brien trophy aka the championship for the NBA. Unfortunately, for Morant and the Grizzles, things came to kind of a screeching halt recently.
It all started when Morant decided to insert himself in a situation where teammate Dillion Brooks and NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe were exchanging words. Instead of de-escalating the situation Morant charged head first into the mix and escalated the situation to such a degree that the game had to be stopped.
Morant, Brooks and Sharpe all apologized for their behavior and explained their actions but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Morant would find himself in hot water again as he is being accused of allegedly punching a teenager at a pickup basketball game.
Never meet your heroes, I guess.
In addition to allegedly punching the 17-yearold, Morant is also being accused of pulling a gun on the young man, but said it was in selfdefense. Then the cherry on top is that Morant was captured waving a gun around on Instagram live.
Now I am not saying Morant did all these things, because there’s this thing called the innocent until proven guilty aspect that I intend to honor. However, these are very serious allegations that should be taken seriously.
If they are true, we need to come to terms with how it needs to be handled. The first aspect will be obviously as he would have to be proven guilty of assaulting a minor and the penalty that comes with that.
Morant has already stepped away from the team and the NBA has launched an investigation into the allegations. I, for one, am praying they are false because I happen to be a big fan of the young star.
I think every fan of basketball is hoping to see Morant back soon because while he deserves to be held accountable for his actions, he also deserves a shot at redemption. Did he make a mistake, a very big mistake at that? Absolutely, he did and there is not denying it.
But he who is without sin cast the first stone, and as quick as some of us were to judge the young man we should forgive him just as quickly. At only 23 years old, Morant has his whole life ahead of him and who among us did not make a big mistake in our 20s?
Again, it is a massive mistake by Morant, but let’s allow this to play out and offer him a second chance to show everyone that this is not who he is as a person, and that it was just a lapse of judgment that he learned from.
