Ja Morant got in trouble again for aiming an imaginary gun to celebrate 3-pointers, so he has gone to a different make-believe violent way to mark a long-distance shot.
The Memphis Grizzlies leading scorer, who was fined $75,000 recently for mimicking pointing a long gun after a basket from outside the arc, acted like he was pulling the pin and tossing a grenade in Thursday night’s 141-125 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Morant, who was 5 of 13 from 3-point range, in some cases even covered his ears after the windmill-like hurl of the invisible explosive.
“That’s my celebration now until somebody else has a problem with it, and I’ll find another one,” Morant said after Thursday’s shootaround.
The league handed down the $75,000 fine on April 4 after Morant twice made what was considered an “inappropriate” imaginary gun-aiming gesture on the court. He was previously warned by the league office that this gesture could be interpreted in a negative light.
The gestures that drew the fine were made by Morant during the Grizzlies’ 110-108 victory over the Miami Heat on April 3, but it first drew the league’s attention in an April 1 home game against the Golden State Warriors.
That led to the investigation and the warning before Morant did it again against Miami.
The fine was the culmination of several questionable incidents involving firearms. Morant was suspended for 25 games at the start of the 2023-24 season after he was seen on video waving a gun in a car. He previously was suspended eight games after he was seen with a gun in a Denver-area nightspot.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Morant said of the latest fine, “just for showing people what’s pretty much been evident for the last two years.”
Teammate Vince Williams Jr. wasn’t really surprised by the change in celebration, adding “I would have went to that too.”
“It’s good for him,” Williams said. “He gets to save his money. Anything that benefits him saving his money, I’m all for it, honestly.”
But the grenade celebration drew criticism from the TNT studio crew on Thursday night. Kenny Smith noted that Morant “has a history that maybe he shouldn’t be doing that.”
Shaquille O’Neal added: “He knows what he’s doing because y’all are going to keep talking about it.”
As for Charles Barkley, he said the happiest person may be former Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, fired March 28 because “he ain’t got to deal with this immature stuff.”
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