The Grizzlies could be without star point guard Ja Morant for the rest of the season, ESPN’s Marc Spears suggested on The Hoop Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst.
“I think there’s a lot going on,” Spears said, via Paolo Songco of ClutchPoints. “My prayers to him, that he figures it out. There’s things I’m hearing that I’d rather probably not say on this podcast, but I hope he’s taking care of himself. I’m not really worried about the basketball part for him right now. I’m worried about the human part.
“… My guess now is — not that you’d bet on this — that he doesn’t play the rest of the season as he takes care of himself.”
Morant has been away from the team for five games and per Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon of ESPN, has been staying in Florida and undergoing counseling.
He was accompanied by a team security officer and has stayed in touch with teammates via text and FaceTime since leaving the Grizzlies, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
There are a lot of internal dialogues going on and obviously there’s still things going on at the league level that we’re in communication with,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said when asked if Morant would return on Friday, via MacMahon. “Ja’s fully engaged in this process and ready for whatever comes next after these two games.”
Police in Glendale, Colo., where the incident took place, said that Morant will not be charged with a crime.
Morant, 23, is averaging 27.1 points, 8.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds, shooting 46 percent from the field in 53 games this season.
The NBA is investigating the nightclub incident. If it determines he had a gun on the team plane or in the locker room he could be suspended, Vardon noted.
Memphis (41-26) has won six of 10 and sits in first place in the Southwest Division and second in the Western Conference.
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