I’ve had enough of Ja Morant. In all honestly, I’m starting to get irritated with this young man. Have you ever heard the age-old adage “If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile”? Well at this point, Morant has taken five miles, and we keep letting him slide. These celebrations aren’t him trying to be creative, or him actually trying to celebrate. He is trolling the league, and the fact the NBA won’t bring the hammer down on him harder really shows how shameless the league has become.
This all started about a week ago, when Morant brought back his gun celebration against the Golden State Warriors. He and Warriors sharpshooter Buddy Hield made the gestures toward each other during a timeout. Social media exploded at Morant’s audacity, and for obvious reasons. Morant is the absolute last person that should be doing gun celebrations. Instead of letting it be a one-off, he broke it out five minutes into the next game against the Miami Heat. The NBA had no choice but to step in and fine him $75,000. It might seem unfair, but when you take a look into Morant’s history, it makes sense why the NBA hit him hard.
In 2023, Morant crashed out. For whatever reason, he wanted to be a YN and decided to start toting guns on Instagram Live. The first incident occurred in March, when Morant was seen flashing a gun at a Colorado nightclub, leading to an eight-game suspension from the league. Then, barely two months later, in May, he did it again, displaying a firearm while chilling in a car with a friend during another live stream. This second err in judgement resulted in a more severe punishment: a 25-game suspension at the start of the 2023–24 season, something he still hasn’t recovered from nearly a full season later.
Morant continues to act out while Griz fades
Morant‘s inability to bounce back is the reason he continues to act out. Since serving that 25-game suspension, he has looked like an imposter. The highlight plays come few and far between, kind of like his commercials. The league doesn’t market or push Morant anymore and neither do sponsors. We can only assume this means less money in his pocket as well. Not only has Morant’s status fallen, but also his team.
Last season, the Grizzlies missed the playoffs for the first time since 2020, Morant’s rookie year. This season, the team is free falling so bad — they’re now eighth, locked into the play-in games after squandering a chance to finish top two in the Western Conference at the All-Star break — that they fired Taylor Jenkins, a coach that most thought was excellent. Now, instead of trying to right the ship and get back in the good graces of the league, Morant is doing everything possible to troll them harder.
Enter his latest celebration: the grenade. Morant broke out his latest celebration after his fine during a game against the Charlotte Hornets. Again, social media erupted because everybody knows exactly what Morant is doing with that celebration. He’s trying to rub it in the NBA’s face and see how far he can take it. Today, it’s a grenade, I’m sure we will see some sort of knife celebration in the near future too. It’s just sad that Adam Silver and the NBA are allowing one player to show up the league like this. David Stern would never.
Ja Morant ditched the gun celebration for a grenade celebration pic.twitter.com/tgKKWidB5k
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) April 11, 2025
Stern acted decisively, unlike Silver
Not everybody liked Stern, which is probably the reason for Adam Silver’s approach, but nobody ever played with Mr. Stern. He wasn’t scared or even slightly bothered to hand down punishment. And when he came down, he came down hard, to the point where offenders wouldn’t even think of trying those actions again.
Silver, however, has gotten so sweet with the league, that star players troll him on national TV. I get it, Commissioner Silver, you want a good working relationship with your players, but obviously they aren’t concerned about one with you. Now, you have one of the biggest stars in the league throwing grenades and shooting guns for millions of children to see and mimic. This what the NBA has become now?
I am no disciplinarian, but the NBA allowing Morant to do this with no repercussion shows how soft it has become. If this was any other player doing this celebration, I could understand why the league might let it slide, but not with him. No way. If I was the commissioner, Morant would be sitting for another 25 games just for thinking he could play with me like that. The league calls me and tells me to stop and the next game I do it again? And then after I get fined, I figure out a new variant of it? No, get this man out of here.
Morant deserves everything that has come his way. He’s lost the love of the public, lost tens of millions of dollars, lost some of his ability, and now he’s just straight losing. And honestly, he can only blame himself. Until he grows up and realizes he is an NBA player, not a rapper or the fake thug he is trying to portray, this downward spiral will only continue.
