A timeline of some of the notable of moments on and off of Ja Morant’s career from the time the Memphis Grizzlies made him the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2019 to his 25-game suspension announced Friday by the league.
Commissioner Adam Silver had said the league would announce any discipline after the NBA Finals were completed following an investigation into a second social media incident involving a handgun within a three-month span.
— June 16, 2023: The NBA suspends Morant 25 games for displaying what appeared to be a firearm on social media. Morant also has to meet certain conditions before being reinstated. This is his second suspension since March.
— May 24, 2023: Police in Tennessee conduct a welfare check on suspended Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant and say “he is fine” after cryptic messages appeared on his Instagram account and were later deleted. A police spokesman says Morant told officers he was “taking a break from social media.”
— May 14, 2023: The Memphis Grizzlies suspend Morant from offseason team activities pending a league investigation after the two-time All-Star shown appearing to hold a gun in an Instagram livestream video.
— May 10, 2023: Morant does not make the All-NBA team announced by the league, preventing him maxing out his extension by an additional $39 million. Morant made the All-NBA second-team in 2022.
— April 28, 2023: The Lakers dominant the Grizzlies and Morant in Game 6 to oust the Western Conference's No. 2 seed in Round 1.
—April 19, 2023: Morant's Ja 1 signature shoe with Nike debuts.
— April 12, 2023: Morant files a countersuit against the Memphis teen over the July 2022 pickup court incident at the Grizzlies' guard's home and notes the original lawsuit jeopardizes Morant's relationships with sponsors including “unconsummated deals in progress.”
— March 15, 2023: The NBA suspends Morant eight games, costing the Grizzlies guard about $669,000 in salary. The suspension follows a meeting between Morant and Silver at the NBA offices in New York, and the commissioner described the guard's actions as "irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous.”
— March 4, 2023: Morant livestreams himself on Instagram at a club and shows himself holding an apparent handgun. Powerade, the sports drink company, pulls a national television ad featuring Morant almost immediately.
— July 26, 2022: Morant hosts a pickup game at his home where a Memphis teenager later sues the Grizzlies point guard for allegedly punching him. The lawsuit is unsealed in March 2023. Morant filed a countersuit, saying he punched Holloway once after being hit in the face with a basketball before the teen approached Morant with “balled up” fists.
— July 1, 2022: The Grizzlies and Morant agree to a five-year, supermax extension of his rookie contract.
— May 13, 2022: Morant misses the final three games with an injured right knee as the second-seeded Grizzlies are ousted by Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals.
— April 25, 2022: Morant captures the NBA's Most Improved Player award, becoming the first Grizzlies player to receive the award and the first player in league history to have won both rookie of the year and most improved.
— Jan. 27, 2022: Morant is voted an All-Star starter for the first time in his third season.
— May 21, 2021: Morant scores 35 points as the Grizzlies clinch the Western Conference's No. 8 seed in the NBA's first play-in tournament by beating the Golden State Warriors in overtime. The Grizzlies lose in five games to top-seeded Utah in the first round.
— Sept. 3, 2020: Morant wins the NBA Rookie of the Year in a runaway vote.
— June 20, 2019: Memphis Grizzlies draft Morant No. 2 overall in the NBA draft out of Murray State.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
