Scores of current and former athletes have eviscerated NBA All-Star Ja Morant for flashing a handgun for the second time this year—an act labeled “stupid,” “disappointing” and “fake gangsta” by some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment.
The most scathing of comments came from former NBA player Kwame Brown, who went on an expletive-laden tirade, telling the 23-year-old Memphis Grizzlies star that his “brain is fucked up.”
“You got to be the dumbest motherfucker in the league,” Brown said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “You got $231 million promised to you and you want to be a fucking thug?... What the fuck are you doing?”
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The Grizzlies said Sunday that Morant was suspended indefinitely from all team activities for flashing the handgun in a viral Instagram Live clip, which was recorded in a car as NBA YoungBoy’s new album blared in the background.
It comes just two weeks after the Grizzlies were bounced from the first round of the NBA playoffs—and just two months after Morant was sidelined for eight games for brandishing a gun at a Denver strip club.
“You want to get in trouble for having a gun at a club, give a bullshit apology and then show a gun on Instagram Live,” Brown said. “I've heard that NBA young boy, but you NBA dumb boy.”
Brown made the blistering comments despite a checkered history of his own. The former No. 1 overall pick, who flamed out of the NBA after making $63 million in a 12-year career, was charged with driving under the influence and disorderly conduct as a player.
Criticism toward Morant spanned beyond the NBA. New York Jets star cornerback Sauce Gardner wrote in a since-deleted tweet on Saturday, “Everybody have guns bro. No need to post it on IG live lol.”
Ja Morant has been hit with his second suspension in as many months.
USA Today via ReutersESPN’s Stephen A. Smith quipped that Morant, who’s averaged 27 points per game as a pro, is “associated with guns more than he's been associated with winning.” Michael Wilbon, also of ESPN, said Sunday he’ll no longer let his son buy a basketball shoe tied to Morant, who he says embodies a “fake gangsta theme.”
“Our money as a family is not going toward that,” Wilbon said.
ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson accused Morant, who had a middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Dalzell, South Carolina, of aligning himself with a lifestyle he knows “nothing about.” The former NFL star claimed Morant’s actions have irked at least one “notable” Los Angeles gang member.
“[Morant] portraying himself, to a degree, as some sort of hip-hop street gangster growing up in the hood when he hasn’t,” Johnson said. “Those are the sort of things that I worry about because you’re aligning yourself in a position that you know nothing about at all whatsoever—zero about.”
Johnson said the Grizzlies and NBA need to get Morant “serious help.”
“I grew up on the streets of Los Angeles in the ghetto,” Johnson said. “I grew up around gangs and gun violence. I've been shot before. My sisters have been shot before…You don’t want that life right there—the clubs, guns, alcohol—that’s not it.”
Speaking on Fox Sports, NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe eviscerated those who defended Morant after his first gun incident, claiming it led Morant to act out again.
“That’s what got us here,” Sharpe said. “I need somebody to tell me the fascination that he has with guns, and feel that he needs to be on IG live, that people need to see him with that tool on him. What is that?”
Morant's first suspension meant he didn’t play enough games to qualify to make an All-NBA team—something the young star was likely assured of if not for the suspension. That cost Morant $39 million in additional money on his recently signed, five-year contract extension, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.
Even rappers Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, and The Game spoke out against the 23-year-old, who stands to lose millions more depending on the length of his current suspension, which hasn’t been determined yet.
“That man is trying hard to go play [in] Turkey or China or Serbia-Montenegro,” Fat Joe said in a post shared on his Instagram. “He’s trying hard to get kicked out of the NBA. And those guys that’s with you? They not your peoples, Ja. They don’t care.”
