Ja Morant wow

[RON_IN_OC]

He obviously has a very fragile psyche. Everyone knows he is a kid who grew up nowhere near the hood and his family never struggled to with the hardships of living in the ghetto. Of course in today's social media age people are going to call you out on your façade. He just needs to follow the advice of players and clean up his image. Companies don't want thugs as the face of their products so if he wants lucrative endorsement deals to add to his huge Nike deal he needs to make changes.

As some mentioned, he should be seeing a therapist on the regular.

He's the Kid Rock and Vanilla Ice of the NBA.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

All good, I'm not participating in the ridiculousness anymore.

 

[AzStevenCal]

This conversation should never happened. For my part in all of this, I blame Yuma - the poster, not the lovely city.

 

[Yuma]

This conversation should never happened. For my part in all of this, I blame Yuma - the poster, not the lovely city.

Blame accepted!

 

[Hoop Head]

This conversation should never happened. For my part in all of this, I blame Yuma - the poster, not the lovely city.

I blame the city.

 

[AZ Native]

.

 

[elindholm]

Needless to say...dude has issues. Drop the fake gangster act and grow up.

Yeah, at least graduate to wearing a hoodie and having a sullen scowl all the time.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

All the gun debate stuff has been moved to P&R. Please keep it out of these threads.

 

[AzStevenCal]

All the gun debate stuff has been moved to P&R. Please keep it out of these threads.

I figured it was bound to happen soon so I helped it along. I actually expected you to move the whole thread as it's likely to go P&R again given Morant's situation.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I figured it was bound to happen soon so I helped it along. I actually expected you to move the whole thread as it's likely to go P&R again given Morant's situation.

I think it is a super relevant NBA story I would prefer we stick to the person though rather than the broad topic.

 

[Raindog]

Funny that with all the scandal surrounding Morant, most draft projections have Brandon Miller going second or third in the upcoming draft without even batting an eye.

 

[Ronin]

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[Hoop Head]

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Sounds about right. I wish they'd do later season bans though. Allowing him to play the second half for a playoff push isn't real punishment so much as unpaid load management. Suspend him the second half of the season so if the team falters, all on him.

 

[Hoop Head]

Has Ja lost any sponsor deals? I haven't paid too close attention.

 

[BirdGangThing]

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I'm not defending what he did and Morant might be the biggest idiot in the league as it pertains to social media but I still think the NBA is overstepping when penalizing players for acts that are technically not illegal - it would also be interesting to see how/if the union responds because I see them having a problem with taking millions of dollars away from a player for two seconds of (again not illegal) footage

 

[Hoop Head]

I'm not defending what he did and Morant might be the biggest idiot in the league as it pertains to social media but I still think the NBA is overstepping when penalizing players for acts that are technically not illegal - it would also be interesting to see how/if the union responds because I see them having a problem with taking millions of dollars away from a player for two seconds of (again not illegal) footage

I think the issue here is that there is something in players contracts about firearm possession, see Jayson Williams, and that's why Ja is denying the gun is his. The league investigated and is working with the players union on a punishment for Ja. He could potentially have his contract voided, if it were someone like Saban Lee then I have zero doubt that's what would happen. Ja is extremely talented and another team would sign him in a heartbeat, off court trouble aside. So the reason the hammer hasn't come down is they're making sure the team isn't unduly punished for Ja's antics while also hopefully causing Ja to quit acting like a moron.

 

[Yuma]

I'm not defending what he did and Morant might be the biggest idiot in the league as it pertains to social media but I still think the NBA is overstepping when penalizing players for acts that are technically not illegal - it would also be interesting to see how/if the union responds because I see them having a problem with taking millions of dollars away from a player for two seconds of (again not illegal) footage

Plus half a season is a LOT of money! Even if it is unpaid vacation, it's a hit in the pocket book.

I get what you are saying about legality, except pro athletes are essentially movie stars. They are in the entertainment business, and as such they represent a product. You don't want your young star of a franchise to come out flashing the Hitler salute because he's a Neo nazi. That could turn away fans, and the NBA does not want to lose money. The players have freedom of speech, up to a point. When it starts hitting the NBA pocket books, better to knock it off!

 

[BirdGangThing]

Plus half a season is a LOT of money! Even if it is unpaid vacation, it's a hit in the pocket book.

I get what you are saying about legality, except pro athletes are essentially movie stars. They are in the entertainment business, and as such they represent a product. You don't want your young star of a franchise to come out flashing the Hitler salute because he's a Neo nazi. That could turn away fans, and the NBA does not want to lose money. The players have freedom of speech, up to a point. When it starts hitting the NBA pocket books, better to knock it off!

So you have him pay a fine, a gross fine, a ridiculous fine, we're talking an historically unprecedented fine that would dent event Ja's pockets. But half a season for flashing a couple guns in a country that has more guns than people?

 

[Mainstreet]

So you have him pay a fine, a gross fine, a ridiculous fine, we're talking an historically unprecedented fine that would dent event Ja's pockets. But half a season for flashing a couple guns in a country that has more guns than people?

I suspect there is more to it. Hopefully we will find out more details later.

 

[AzStevenCal]

So you have him pay a fine, a gross fine, a ridiculous fine, we're talking an historically unprecedented fine that would dent event Ja's pockets. But half a season for flashing a couple guns in a country that has more guns than people?

It's part of the collective bargaining agreement. The players agreed to these restrictions, either specifically or generally (for the good of the game).

 

[BirdGangThing]

It's part of the collective bargaining agreement. The players agreed to these restrictions, either specifically or generally (for the good of the game).

Cool... but half a season when a gargantuan fine would be just as effective? Logically speaking - I get the penalty should be severe enough to send a message to Ja he obviously didn't receive on the first go round. But what's he supposed to do for half a season, go to gangster rehab? Average NBA career is like 4 and 1/2 years

 

[Mainstreet]

There reportedly was additional information that was uncovered.

I'm not on either side. I wanted the Suns to draft Zion or Ja Morant if they had the opportunity.

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[AzStevenCal]

Cool... but half a season when a gargantuan fine would be just as effective? Logically speaking - I get the penalty should be severe enough to send a message to Ja he obviously didn't receive on the first go round. But what's he supposed to do for half a season, go to gangster rehab? Average NBA career is like 4 and 1/2 years

It's to keep sponsors happy. Just fining him isn't going to send the right message IMO. Maybe after another decade or so they'll lighten up on it but the Gilbert Arenas/Jarvis Crittenton situation gave the league a lot of negative press. Afterwards, they had a very Malice at the Palace type reaction to it which led to Arenas getting a full year's suspension.

Gilbert's infraction was somewhat worse given he brought 4 unloaded guns to the locker room but this isn't Morant's first violation. So if he only gets half a season or less as rumored, it will be another weak response by the current commissioner.

 

[BirdGangThing]

Here are the biggest fines in NBA history - topping the charts is Ben Simmons who got hit for $17 million for not playing and a $16 million dollar fine to Kyrie for refusing the vaccine (special shout-out to Sarver)

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Ja Morant is due to make $38 million this year. I imagine if he only plays half a season he'd only receive half the pay. That's $19 million dollars. Ja Morant is a idiot, a self harming poser, but the NBA is also self harming when they can just as easily hit Morant with a $10 million fine and a butt load of conditions

 

[TRW]

Guess we'll find out after the finals.