No, Ja Morant is not the victim after NBA punishes Grizzlies star for gun gestures

The NBA is not out to get Ja Morant, no matter how much he tries to make himself the victim of his own reputation.

We can’t even begin with his game-winner in Miami on Thursday night because he’s seemingly hell-bent on making every step of his comeback hell.

The same day he was warned by the NBA league office about his gun celebration, along with Golden State’s Buddy Hield, Morant unleashed the same celebration on national TV and was subsequently fined $75,000.

Think about that. The league office — Morant’s boss — conveyed to him that the celebration was unacceptable — and then he repeated it, hours later.

This isn’t about a mere gesture; it’s about wanting a marquee player to recognize what’s in front of him, and to not be self-destructive and undo his own on-court excellence.

Either he’s so impulsive in a competitive setting he can’t control himself, or he wants to thumb his nose at the league as the rebel, or he’s simply clueless. One would hope it’s the first instance instead of the last two, but he hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt from the public yet.

If it’s Ja versus the league, go ahead and see if you can win that battle, if that’s the hill you want to die on.

It’s not the biggest deal in the world, it’s not as if Morant was actually carrying a weapon on the floor, but the mere fact we’re at this place feels unnecessary.

“I’m kind of used to it,” Morant said in Miami. “I’m pretty much a villain for two years now, so yeah, I don’t care no more.”

You wonder if Morant feels it’s himself against the world, but it’s really “Ja vs. Ja” because far more people want him to succeed than fail. But his statement seems to indicate he thinks otherwise.

The NBA is the league that has to deal with calls from some critics about its workforce being “too Black,” and thus concerned with scaring off an eye-rolling customer base, and it has the most player-friendly commissioner in the four major professional sports in Adam Silver.

And this is who Ja Morant wants to go against? Make it make sense.

Or maybe he wants to rail against the pervasive gun culture in the United States, our collective obsession with war and guns. He could put the focus on all the gun-like celebrations happening all around the league, making himself the martyr.

Perhaps he can lead the conversation because he’s so very uniquely qualified. It isn’t about the NBA’s hypocrisy, because it's Morant who has had issues with guns — not the other players celebrating with the gesture.

It’s a different time from when Kevin Garnett talked about “loading up the pump, loading up the uzi …ready for war” in referencing a Game 7 in the 2004 playoffs. He wasn’t fined then and it didn’t cause a huge ripple in the sports landscape.

But seriously, when’s the last time we’ve seen Ja Morant, as a collective NBA viewing public? 

The last two All-Star Weekends? The Olympic Games? The playoffs?

No, no, and no.

He’s been absent on the league’s biggest stages, where public perception can change quickly with a string of consistent performances, game-winners and poster dunks.

Morant has had some highlights for sure, that’s what he’s good for when he’s available. But the enduring memory of him is on Instagram, toting a gun. Or rather, testifying he beat up a teen in his backyard.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to associate him with the electrifying plays or the charisma. It’s been nonsense — his brand in recent years has been the gun-toting player flirting with the gangsta image.

Three years ago, Morant did battle with the eventual champion Golden State Warriors in the playoffs, dropping 34, 47, 34 — and Jordan Poole — in the first three games of that series before injuring his knee, ending his season. It seemed like an announcement the Grizzlies were on the way up, ready to smooth out the rough edges and take hold of the West.

The path has been anything but smooth since, even though there’s still time to get back to a prosperous place. He’s appeared in just 40 percent of Grizzlies games (56 of 140) since the start of last season — largely due to injuries and not suspension, to be fair.

He’s been absent, nonetheless.

Crazily enough, he's had backing from the league almost at every possible occasion. The NBA clearly bought — or wanted to buy — what Morant and Buddy Hield said in their conversation last week during the investigation.

There was no fine, even though the league could’ve very well issued one given Morant’s precedent. The NBA warned him — a break.

When Morant was first caught flashing guns on the internet in 2023, the league didn’t move to suspend or reprimand him — even though the NBA bylaws say players are not allowed to carry guns on NBA-related business.

Remember Shotgun Willie’s in Denver?

Remember the Indiana Pacers staff making the claim someone in Morant’s traveling party — with Morant en tow — pointed something laser-like at the team bus, causing the league to investigate it?

It wasn’t until well down the line the NBA actually stepped in — after Morant’s self-imposed exile and saying “breathing exercises” helped him with stress — and suspended him for eight games during the 2022-23 season.

The league had given him a break at every point until it couldn’t turn its head any longer.

The NBA world didn’t place any blame on him for the firing of Taylor Jenkins, even though the first finger is usually pointed toward the franchise player in instances like these. And you can even point to Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo refraining from giving a full-throated endorsement of his star, saying, “I already gave that answer in Miami,” when asked about harnessing all that comes with him. Never mind the fine came the day after the game-winner in Miami, but Iisalo's reply likely points to him not being in charge and those who are being ill-equipped or ill-advised in handling matters involving public relations.

The franchise has problems that extend beyond Morant, and one would assume it’ll be addressed in the coming months.

If anyone doesn’t think the NBA wants to wrap its arms around Morant, they haven’t been watching. For all of LeBron James’ and Stephen Curry’s excellence, they’re far closer to the end than anyone is willing to admit. The league wants Zion Williamson, Anthony Edwards and Morant to take the torch.

Williamson can’t stay on the floor, Edwards has openly stated he doesn’t want the responsibility, and Morant hasn’t shown himself capable of either.

The NBA has come a long way from the day Allen Iverson walked into it, his authenticity turning the league upside down in the days where Michael Jordan was king. Iverson was justified in believing the world was against him — because he actually went to jail before being pardoned and going to Georgetown.

The league knows it has to be careful. It walks a fine line in being so heavy-handed with young, Black superstars, while being a guiding hand for the future of the sport.

So let’s spare the whole “Ja as victim” defense — he used up a lot of goodwill in a very short period of time and, unfortunately, it takes awhile to fill up that reservoir.

It’s not impossible, though. It doesn’t take much for him to regain momentum, if he gets out of his own way, and if he realizes he can’t operate by the same rules as everyone else with reference to guns.

Why not?

Because it can’t be you. That’s why.