- The news about Ja Morant’s detainment is simply a speculation. Nonetheless, he is charged with intimidating a 17-year-old boy with a gun following a verbal dispute that escalated during a casual basketball game in September 2022.
- According to Morant, he acted in self-defense after the boy became hostile by throwing a basketball at his head and expressing a willingness to engage in a physical confrontation by starting to pull up his trousers.
- Morant also alleged that the boy threatened harm to his family, which prompted him to file a police report.
Speculations regarding Ja Morant’s detainment are unfounded. He is accused of intimidating a 17-year-old boy with a gun following a verbal dispute that turned physical during a casual basketball game in September 2022.
In a tweet by Bleacher Report, Ja Morant was accused of striking a 17-year-old boy 12-13 times and displaying a firearm during a casual basketball game last summer, as per a police report obtained by @mollyhc.
Ja Morant was accused of striking a 17-year-old boy 12-13 times and displaying a firearm during a casual basketball game last summer, as per a police report obtained by @mollyhc
Full story: https://t.co/NsRnhsIXlk pic.twitter.com/DH0utTt37V
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 1, 2023
However, Morant explained to the police that he acted in self-defense after the boy became hostile by throwing a basketball at his head and indicating a willingness to engage in a physical confrontation by starting to pull up his trousers.
Morant also claimed that the boy threatened harm to his family, which prompted him to file a police report.
It is alleged that during a game, the boy and Ja Morant exchanged forceful passes when checking the ball in, but the boy’s pass accidentally struck Morant in the face.
Reportedly, Morant then rested his chin on the boy’s shoulder and asked his friend if he should retaliate, to which the friend purportedly acquiesced.
Morant then swung and struck the boy in the jaw. The boy was purportedly struck “12 or 13 times” by Morant, and his friends added “four or five” more strikes. However, prosecutors did not pursue charges due to insufficient evidence.
Just four days before this incident, Morant purportedly “threatened” the head of security at a Memphis mall, and a member of Morant’s group purportedly pushed him in the head. Morant’s mother reportedly got into a dispute at a Finish Line store and subsequently called her son.
Subsequently, Morant arrived at the mall with a group of around nine people. Despite orders from the security staff, Morant and his friends purportedly refused to leave the mall’s parking lot, resulting in a “verbal confrontation” and the security director being pushed. No arrests were made.
The boy filed a lawsuit against Morant earlier this year, alleging that the NBA player assaulted him.
The NBA investigated the incident and found no individual threatened others with a weapon.
“Any and every allegation involving a firearm has been fully investigated and could not be corroborated. This includes the NBA investigation last month, in which they found no evidence,” Morant’s agent, Jim Tanner, told The Washington Post, adding that it “was purely self-defense. Again, after this was fully investigated by law enforcement, they came to the decision not to charge Ja with any crime.”
Morant’s legal team asserted that the altercation was an act of self-defense and that the player only had a gun visible in his waistband and did not point it at the boy.
If found guilty, this could be the latest in a string of violent incidents involving Morant, including a physical altercation with the head of security at a Memphis mall, which was alleged to have happened four days before the casual basketball game incident.
No arrests were made in either incident. Morant has previously been accused of pretending to be a thug by some in the NBA community, including Shannon Sharpe.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has not commented on any of the allegations.
