Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant not being charged with a crime for twice displaying a gun on social media will not prevent the NBA from handing down more discipline, commissioner Adam Silver said Friday.
Silver is preparing to announce whatever penalty is coming Morant’s way for the second gun incident shortly after the end of the NBA Finals. He suspended Morant for eight games in March after the Grizzlies star held a gun in a suburban Denver nightclub while streaming himself live on Instagram. Another livestream in May, this time while sharing the front seat of a car with one of his friends, saw Morant displaying a weapon again.
“Waving them around, displaying them in a certain context, is not consistent with gun safety and is not the proper message that an NBA player, particularly one at Ja’s level, should be sending to the tens of millions of followers he has — and particularly when it’s an incident once again, where it’s been streamed live on social media,” Silver said. “So yes, I think given the similarity of this incident to the first one, I was alarmed, I was disheartened.”