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Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies is potentially facing a lengthy suspension from the NBA due to his second gun-related incident caught on camera this year. Morant has had a troubled year full of disturbing accusations.
A lot of people have been disappointed by Morant's actions due to his relatively good upbringing in South Carolina. He was born on Aug. 10, 1999, in the small town of Dalzell to Tee and Jamie Morant.
The Grizzlies superstar grew up in nearby Sumter, where he was a high school basketball star for Crestwood. The city has a population of around 40,000 and is also the hometown of former NBA players like Ray Allen and Pete Chilcutt. Morant's father Tee and Allen were high school teammates in the early 1990s.
Ja Morant on growing up in South Carolina
Ja Morant did not have any troubling incidents before all the things that happened over the last year. Morant was very humble when he talked about growing up in South Carolina, in an interview with Clinton Yates of Andscape before the 2019 NBA draft.
"It's a very small town, the country, a lot of woods," Morant said. "But almost everybody around there know each other. That's why I'm a big family person."
In the same interview, Morant also talked about surrounding himself with the right people when he finally gets to the NBA. He seemed to have done so in the first three years of his career before childhood friend Davonte Pack returned to his circle after finishing college.
"You just can't trust everybody," Morant said. "And, I mean, I got my family who's been around me my whole life so, I don’t need anybody new or anything. I'm big on having the right people around me, the right crowd."
Ja Morant's punishment to be announced after NBA Finals
Before Game 1 of the NBA Finals last Thursday, Adam Silver was asked for an update on the investigation into Ja Morant's latest gun video. Silver said that they found more information not disclosed to the public, and Morant's punishment will be announced after the NBA Finals.
"We've uncovered a fair amount of additional information," Silver said. "We probably could have brought it to a head now, but we've made the decision that it would be unfair to these players and these teams to announce that decision in the middle of this series."
Morant will likely be suspended at the start of the 2023-24 NBA season. The severity of his punishment will be more than the eight-game suspension he received in February for flashing a gun in a night club.
Some experts are expecting his suspension to reach double digits, while others anticipate a maximum of 41 games.
