Police in Glendale, Colorado — part of the Denver metropolitan area — are investigating if Ja Morant violated any laws by apparently having a gun in a club within their city limits, reports Ramona Shelburne and Liz Merrill of ESPN.
Colorado is an open-carry state but there are a few restrictions. One of those is people cannot possess a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. Morant is not seen drinking in the video of him brandishing a gun in a club that went viral after he put it out on Instagram Live (that video is what alerted police to the situation, there had been no complaints, according to the report).
Grizzlies star Ja Morant was allegedly seen showing off a gun on his IG Live this morning.pic.twitter.com/HlhvoWlnYy
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 4, 2023
The NBA also is investigating the situation. The league does not allow a player to have a firearm on any team property or while traveling on team business. Morant and the Grizzlies were on a road trip and in Denver when the incident occurred early Saturday morning (or late Friday night).
The NBA could come down with a suspension — meaning a loss of game pay for Morant — on top of him being “away from” the Grizzlies for an indefinite period of time (which does not impact his pay).
“There’s not a definitive timeline,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said of a Morant return. “I mean, we have said that it’s gonna be at least these two games, you know, we’re taking it one day at a time. I mean, this is going to be an ongoing healing process. So I can’t comment in terms of what the exact timetable is going to be because it’s really not a timetable situation.”
Jenkins would not detail what steps need to take place for Morant to rejoin the team.
Morant released a statement over the weekend:
“I take full responsibility for my actions last night. I’m sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire 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 Grizzlies see the situation more as helping Morant heal than wanting to punish their 23-year-old All-Star and face of the franchise.
“Ja is taking on the responsibility to really get the help he needs to get into a better place….” Jenkins said, later adding:
“We love him. You know we want what’s best for him. We support him. It’s gonna be a difficult process. But you know, we’ve got a great group to get through this.”