NBA legend Gilbert Arenas has controversially claimed he would have pretended he didn’t see Ja Morant’s alarming video if he was owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Morant is one of the rising stars in basketball but he has repeatedly hit headlines for the wrong reasons recently. On Friday night, the two-time All-Star posted footage to Instagram - which was widely shared on social media - where he is seen dancing topless in a club before he appears to lift a firearm to the side of his head.
The NBA soon confirmed they were investigating the video and the Grizzlies later released a statement declaring Morant would be absent for the next two matches against the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers. Morant apologised for his actions after the Grizzlies announced his suspension.
While Morant admitted he was in the wrong, former NBA All-Star Arenas has attracted attention for controversially coming to the 23-year-old’s defence. Arenas believes Morant is simply showing his age and immaturity.
“When we're young, we do stupid s***,” Arenas said on his podcast. “We're trying to pretend that 23 is real old? 23 with a lot of money, there's going to be some dumb s*** you do. Some of us get caught, some of us don’t.”
When pressed about what he would do were he the Grizzlies owner, Arenas surprisingly added: “If I'm the owner, I'm going to do what every owner does: pretend I don't see it. Just grow up a little bit faster. You got too much time on your hands.
“You got to put Ja around somebody who's been the same way and actually got out of it safely.”
Last Saturday, Morant released his statement apologising for the footage, which read: “I take full responsibility for my actions last night. I’m sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire Grizzlies organisation for letting you down. I’m going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”
Morant has a $200million contract with the Grizzlies. He is averaging 27.1 points per game in the 2022/23 NBA season to go with 8.2 assists.
He led the 38-25 Grizzlies to second-place in the Western Conference, although they are six -and-a-half games behind the first seed Denver Nuggets. Memphis take on the Los Angeles Lakers in their next contest on Tuesday night.
