Ja Morant suspended after social post shows him with a gun

The big story at 10 tonight, the saga of John Morant, the Grizzly superstar facing a suspension and investigation from the NBA tonight after an incident on social media. Hi there, thanks for joining us tonight. I'm Shay Arthur. We have team three coverage of the Morant situation, including reaction from fans and local leaders. But we begin tonight with News Channel 3's Colin Cody with the details on what happened. Hey Colin. That's right Shay, this story has been developing all day long.

And what we know is the Grizzlies are playing their next two games in Los Angeles and the incident happened at what looked like a nightclub in the early hours of Saturday morning. Now Friday night the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the different nuggets, 1.13 to 97 and Ja he finished with 27 points and 10 assists. Now is not sure if he flew separate from the team to Los Angeles but the incident took place around 3 a.m. Pacific time. Now since the incident the Grizzlies released a statement saying that Ja will be away from the team for the next two games and they'll be in LA for the next five days as they play the Clippers and the Lakers.

And what he could make the soonest return will be Thursday against the Warriors at FedEx Forum. And the NBA has also opened an investigation as well into this incident. This afternoon Morant deactivated all social media accounts and released a statement through his agent stating, I take full responsibility for my actions last night. I'm sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners in the city of Memphis and the entire Grizzlies organization for letting you down and I'm going to take some time away to help and work on learning better methods of dealing with my stress and my overall well being. Now Nike also released a statement saying that they appreciate his accountability and that he's taken the time to get the help that he needs. Now Shay we have much more coverage coming up tonight at Sports Later on in the Newscast. Alright Colin thanks for staying on top of things, we'll see you soon.

And not only is Morant speaking out but fans and community leaders are as well. WREG's Jordan James continues our team three coverage outside of FedEx Forum tonight and Jordan what'd they say to you? Okay there's mixed opinions about the way this thing should be handled but the bottom line is it all can agree that something needs to be done before it's too late. Since 2019, John Morant has captivated the hearts of Memphians and Grizzly fans across the country. Been a Grizzly fan my whole life but you know with the new John Morant edition it's like another level. The 26 year old quickly became a fan favorite serving as an inspiration for many. John Morant's a role model for me. He act like he's still from the city, he'll act like he's from somewhere else, he'll act booze and he act like one of us.

So we see a lot of ourselves in him. A relationship that recently became embroiled in controversy following a string of off the court issues ranging from allegations of assault and most notably posting video of himself holding what looks to be a gun inside of a nightclub Saturday. Yeah there's definitely not what you want to see but you know John Morant is a superstar you know what I'm saying and he's young so I think he's gonna mature. Some Grizzly fans are remaining optimistic others have decided to lean on their faith when it comes to Morant. I pray that you move on his behalf right now and that whatever he's dealing with whatever the circumstance might be God, God you change the report. As a result of Morant's post the Grizzlies have announced that he will be away from the team for at least two games. It's time that community activist Earl Fisher believes can be beneficial.

I think he deserves as much space and grace as the rest of us as we try to come to grips with what all of those different aspects of our life and environment mean. Fisher tells WREG he has been in contact with Morant's parents and believes that he is being unfairly judged and should be afforded the opportunity to mature. To make it seem like somehow he's playing double Dutch like he's a basketball star by day and some you know hood gangster guy by night that's ridiculous. This idea that somehow we have to be one dimensional I think is a little bit unfair to the complexity of black humanity. As Memphis Grizzlies deal with the fallout from this latest incident Morant has vowed to learn from it. You know as Colin said the NBA is conducting their own investigation outside of job Morant being gone for two games no word yet on if there will be any more action taken by the league. Reporting here live tonight outside of FedEx Forum.

Jordan James WREG News Channel 3.

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