Ja Morant has been in the news for the wrong things lately, and he just made the news again but this time for a different reason.
On Wednesday, Memphis Police were called to do a welfare check on the Grizzlies’ star guard after Morant posted cryptic messages on his Instagram page, which were later deleted.
The post included pictures and messages saying “Love ya ma,” “Love ya pops,” and “You da greatest babygirl love ya.” A fourth message simply read: “Bye.”
And that’s when the police were called in.
Fortunately, all was well and the authorities reported that “he [Morant] is fine.”
It’s a scary situation and one that, thankfully, was taken seriously by all. Fortunately, it only resulted in Ja telling the police that he was stepping away from social media for a while.
“He advised us that he is taking a break from social media,” said Shelby County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Morris.
Things haven’t been going well for the young superstar over the last year.
A few months ago, Ja went on IG Live from a club while brandishing a gun. That incident led to an investigation by both Colorado police and the NBA. No criminal charges were filed but the NBA suspended him for eight games, which cost him almost $700,000 in forfeited salary. Then he returned to the lineup, only for the Grizzlies to lose to the lower-seeded Lakers.
Then two weeks ago, Morant was back on IG live again with a gun, after which he was suspended “from all team activities pending League review” by the team.
But these were just the two most recent incidents, as others preceded them.
In January, his longtime friend, Devonte Pack, was involved in an incident with the Pacers both on and off the court.
Last year Morant was involved in an incident at a mall where a security guard eventually filed a police report after feeling threatened by Morant and his friends. Less than a week later, Ja was accused of punching a 17-year-old boy and brandishing a gun at a pickup game in Memphis.
After the two most recent incidents involving guns, Nike pulled his Hunger 1 sneaker from their site and Powerade pulled a commercial featuring the embattled star.
The visit by the police continued his string of unfortunate incidents, but the silver lining was that those who cared about him took immediate action and the police conducted a wellness check.
Fortunately for all, Ja was ok, and that’s what counts.
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