FOX Sports’ Shannon Sharpe criticizes Ja Morant: ‘You’re not about that life. Stop pretending.’
Ja Morant’s associates confronted members of the Indiana Pacers and someone trained a red laser on several of the team’s traveling party, FOX Sports analyst Shannon Sharpe criticized the star guard of the Memphis Grizzlies for his response to the NBA investigating the matter.
On his show “Undisputed” Monday, Sharpe chided the Morant about his friends and trying to put forth a harder image than what he is as an All-Star basketball player and one of the NBA’s bright young stars.
“I wish Ja would realize he’s not a thug. Ja is a really good basketball player. Ja did everything he could to lift himself and his family out of this environment and to get away from this,” Sharpe said. “And for some reason, he wants to surround himself with these types of people. Why? Bruh, you not hard. That’s not your life. People that (are) in that life would give anything to be in your life.
Ja Morant responds to report that his associates threatened Pacers’ travel party
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Pacers members threatened by Ja Morant associates, per report
Morant’s best friend Davonte Pack, according to The Athletic, approached the Pacers on Jan. 29 along with several others in the loading area of FedExForum. The two sides exchanged words and were separated by security. When Morant arrived, he, Pack and others got into an SUV and according to the Pacers, someone pointed a red laser at them.
Three people quoted in the story believed it was a gun but didn’t see a weapon. The NBA released a statement saying it could not corroborate that anyone had a weapon but confirmed there was a postgame confrontation that resulted in multiple people being banned from attending home Grizzlies games.
Morant confirmed on Twitter that Pack had been banned for at least the rest of the season.
Shannon Sharpe, Ja Morant have history
Sharpe, who got into a verbal altercation with the Grizzlies last month at a Los Angeles Lakers game, added that actions like that could put Morant and his family in trouble. It doesn’t need to be that way because he’s a talented basketball player and the Grizzlies have greater concerns on the court.
“What you’re going about, pretending like you’re down like that, that you tote, that you carry, bruh, you’re putting yourself in harm’s way,” Sharpe said. “It’s not a good look for you. Stop this man. This is not not you. I mean, you play basketball to get out of this environment.”
Grizzlies are ‘borderline out of control’
ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst took it a step further on Zach Lowe’s podcast Monday. On “The Lowe Post,” he noted that between Dillon Brooks’ suspension and the Grizzlies losing eight of their last nine games, the team is “borderline out of control.”