What The Hell - The NBA Held An Investigation After Associates Of Ja Morant Reportedly Confronted And 'Trained A Red Laser On Pacers Personnel'
Quick refresher for background here. The Pacers and Grizzlies game that this is in reference to is from January 29. The same game that this happened:
Obviously chippy. Obviously people talking shit and the ejection of Pack. That leads to this report from The Athletic:
Following a game between the Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies on Jan. 29 in Memphis, acquaintances of Grizzlies star Ja Morant aggressively confronted members of the Pacers traveling party near the team’s bus in the loading area of FedExForum, and later someone in a slow-moving SUV — which Morant was riding in — trained a red laser on them.
The two members of the traveling party who spoke to The Athletic said that they did not see who shined the laser from the SUV. They also don’t know if the laser was attached to a gun, but they believed it was. A Pacers security guard in the loading area at the time remarked: “That’s 100 percent a gun.”
What the fuck? Even if it's not a gun, what are you doing? I don't care who you are, where you come from, whatever. If you're associates of Ja Morant you can't be doing this shit. Because, guess what? This is the story that runs with. I'm not saying Ja is innocent here by any means. But if they did this all on their own, it's all 'Ja Morant's friends, etc.' It's bad enough that you're confronting another team in the loading area, but doing this is just downright dumb as fuck.
Seriously. Let guys handle their own shit. If Ja was truly pissed, let him fight it out with someone in the loading area. I'd actually respect that if the report was Ja Morant and Andrew Nembhard squared up for a couple rounds in the parking lot. Instead it says this:
About 30 to 40 yards away from the bus were two parked cars. Pack and four to five other men emerged from the cars, walked to within 30 feet of the Pacers group and began shouting at them.
According to the sources, the remarks directed at them by Pack and others included: “Come get some of this” and “you don’t know how we roll” and “I’ll show you what I got.” Some Pacers players and others yelled back at them, according to the two people present. Pacers, NBA and arena security got between the two groups.
The verbal sparring continued intermittently for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, until Morant entered the loading area. He, Pack and the others dispersed into two vehicles.
Be bigger losers. Screaming from 30-40 yards away. Again, let guys on the floor handle their own shit. This is just pathetic, even if it makes for an unbelievable Sunday story. What makes it even more outrageous. Ja just hiding it from it all today:
This story isn't going to go away until Ja says something. I get waiting for the 'right' moment, but now you're just delaying it and making others talk. I know the NBA said nothing could be corroborated in terms of a threat with a weapon, but this is still going to be talked about.
Just a banner run for the NBA here without the NFL this weekend. Kyrie traded, the Suns wanting to trade for Kevin Durant, Steph injured, this story, the Dillon Brooks/Donovan Mitchell nut tap, the Austin Rivers/Mo Bamba fight on Friday. Just an incredible run all around.