by There is no timeline for Ja Morant’s return to the Memphis Grizzlies, and the all-star guard knows he made “difficult and poor decisions” for which he must be held accountable, coach Taylor Jenkins said Sunday night.
Morant was not with the team in Los Angeles to play the Clippers on Sunday and the Lakers on Tuesday while the NBA investigates a social media post in which Morant appeared to be holding a gun.
“A very tough moment for sure,” Jenkins said of the video.
“He understands that he’s made some tough decisions and bad decisions in the past that he needs to be held accountable for,” Jenkins said. “He definitely accepts the mistakes he made but only time will tell. We will support him and hold him accountable for making these changes.”
Jenkins declined to outline the steps Morant must take to rejoin the team, saying: “We love him, we want the best for him, we support him. It’s going to be a difficult process but we’ve got a great group to get through this.”
He called it “an ongoing healing process.”
Morant was also the subject of a league probe after a Jan. 29 incident in Memphis that he said resulted in a friend of his being banned from home games for a year. This incident happened after a game against the Indiana Pacers. Multiple media outlets reported that members of the Pacers saw a red dot aimed at them and a security guard from the team believed the laser was attached to a weapon.
The NBA confirmed that unnamed individuals were banned from the arena, but said its investigation found no evidence anyone had been threatened with a gun.
The 23-year-old two-time All-Star, now in his fourth season with the Grizzlies, is the father of a young daughter. Jenkins described Morant as “a generally amazing person, a great family person, a father, brother, son, member of our community”.
“I hope he just gets better,” Jenkins said. “He knows he has a lot of love and support.”
