Ja Morant will miss the first 25 games of this season after being suspended for waving a gun around on social media multiple times.
While the NBA player’s union had pushed back on the length of the suspension — calling it “excessive and inappropriate” as well as questioning some of the vague language about steps for his return to play — NBA head of basketball operations Joe Dumars told reporters the length of the suspension will not be shortened. He doesn’t expect it to be lengthed either. Here is Dumars’ answer to a question about Morant’s return to play guidelines, via Sam Amick and Joe Varden at The Athletic.
“The league and the Players Association and Ja and his people are in constant communication with this, and are all working together on this,” Dumars said. “From a league office standpoint, with the Players Association, with Ja and his people, everybody is collaborating together on this to make sure that this kid makes a smooth transition back to the league — whenever that is. This is not the type of stuff you can (discuss) publicly and start talking about what’s happening behind the scenes, but it is happening.”
Morant can be around the team and practice during his suspension, he just cannot play in games. Dumars said he didn’t
think keeping Morant away from the structure of a team for that long was a good idea.
“Here’s a 24-year-old kid, he’s figuring it out as he goes, as a young man in the league,” Dumars said. “Incredible talent. And early on in his career, a lot has come his way. I personally think the worst thing you can do is completely ostracize this kid from everything with his team. So the 25 games are the 25 games. But I think for this 24-year-old kid to continue to grow, he needs to continue to practice every day with his team and be around his team and team meetings.”
How the Grizzlies handle the first 25 games without Morant, then how they adjust to his December return, makes them one of the hardest teams to predict coming into the season. The Grizzlies went out and added veteran leadership this summer with Marcus Smart and Derrick Rose, hoping to bring a very talented but undisciplined team together into one that can be a threat in the West playoffs.
At least we know the suspension is just for 25 games.
