Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant is still away from the team indefinitely, as both the NBA and Colorado police investigate a video that appeared to show the point guard holding a gun inside a nightclub earlier this month. Morant's two-game suspension from the team has now been served, but he is expected to miss more time.
Prior to the Grizzlies' loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, their third defeat in a row, Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal shared his thoughts on the situation during the TNT pre-game show. O'Neal questioned Morant's decision-making, and said the blame lies solely on him.
"There's no excuse for what he did," O'Neal said. "He pushed a button on his phone. He went live. You don't go live, nobody knows he has the weapon, we're not talking about this. But he did that. Why are you in the strip club with no shirt? Why are you walking around with a weapon? And why did you hit the live button? We have to stop putting ourselves in positions to where they can take away the things we worked to get.
"But remember, he put himself in this position. He didn't have to go live. You have to pick your phone up, swipe to find Instagram, get on Instagram, swipe again, hit the live button, wait for it to connect. You have to have enough common sense to know that wasn't gonna go the way you wanted it to go. You're not a rapper, you're an NBA player. I don't know where you're from, I don't know who's hanging out with you. That don't matter. When it's you making the decision, you gotta be smart. We gotta stop putting ourselves in positions to where they can take it back."
"We have to stop putting ourselves in positions to where they can take away what we've worked so hard to get."@SHAQ shares his thoughts on Ja Morant pic.twitter.com/9W2avSZ2nh
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 8, 2023
Shaq also called on Morant to think of what's at stake, both for himself and his family.
"I feel for him now, but I also feel for his mother and father. Like what are they going through?" O'Neal said. "Guys, before you make a dumb decision, a dumb choice, think of the higher power. Your mother, your father, your children... Forget all the investigation. I don't like to hear 'What's Nike gonna do? What's the other company gonna do?' We already seen the other situation where one of our guys lost 30 million. You don't want to see a young kid like him lose that money. We have to stop putting ourselves in those positions."
Following the Grizzlies' loss to the Denver Nuggets on March 3, Morant went live on Instagram while at a nightclub in Glendale, Colorado, and appeared to be showing off a gun in the video, which was later clipped and shared to various social media sites.
"I take full responsibility for my actions last night," Morant said in a statement released on March 4. "I'm sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis, and the entire Grizzlies organization for letting you down. I'm going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being."
The NBA also released a statement saying, "We are aware of a social media post involving Ja Morant and are investigating."
