Tee Morant’s behaviour during Memphis’ home loss to Oklahoma City this weekend just goes to show why Ja has had many off-court problems during his career. The superstar’s father was ejected late in the fourth quarter for constantly disrespecting the referees during the NBA match.
According to pool report with official Josh Tiven, the 44-year-old was pulled out of the arena for making repeated “overtly disrespectful statements about the integrity of the officiating crew.” Tee was seen shouting “the fix is in!” over and over again from his FedExForum courtside seat.
Crew chief Tiven admitted that he was well aware that the fan shouting at the referees was Morant’s dad, when he requested security to remove him during a dead ball with 2:10 remaining in the game, which ended 125-1122 in favor of the Thunder team.
TEE MORANT EJECTED: Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant’s father, Tee Morant, was ejected in Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma City for being “overly disrespectful” to the officiating crew.
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“The fan continued to repeat overtly disrespectful statements about the integrity of the officiating crew, so as the crew chief, I approached security and asked that he be removed,” Tiven told the press after the contest.
The Grizzlies All-Star was confronted once the game was over and asked why he thought his father was ejected. “He probably got kicked out so I didn’t [get ejected],” Ja responded, despite not knowing what happened. “Probably complaining about something to the ref.”
OKC coach Mark Diagneault was then approached about the situation, with reporters asking him if he or any of his staff requested Tee Morant to be removed. The tactician, who leds the team with the NBA-best record, simply answered: “Not to my knowledge. No.”
Ja ended this Saturday’s clash with 16 points, hitting 6-of-19 from the floor, but only received four free-throw attempts throughout the match. Despite this, the Grizzlies has 39-21 advantage in free throws that night.
The 25-year-old preferred not to cave into controversy, despite feeling like he was treated fairly by the officiating crew. “I kind of knew it because [one official] started getting mad when I asked him a question, and didn’t want to talk,” Ja told the press. “But we ain’t gonna go there.”
