Rising NBA celebrity Ja Morant may very well be in hassle with the regulation after a 17-year-old accused the Memphis Grizzlies participant of punching him 12 to 13 instances throughout a pickup basketball sport that was going down in 23-year-old Morant’s home in Tennessee in July final 12 months.
According to a report in The Washington Post, which quotes interviews carried out by Shelby County Sheriff’s Office detectives, {the teenager} has informed the officers that after an altercation throughout the sport went out of hand, Morant went into his home after hitting him and got here again out with a “gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on the weapon.” The report additionally added that {the teenager} had a “large knot” on the aspect of his head the place he claimed that Morant had hit him.
TMZ had reported that {the teenager} had sued Morant, who’s the No 2 total decide within the 2019 NBA Draft and a two-time All-Star.
In one other incident reported by the newspaper, a mall safety guard informed authorities that Morant “threatened” him throughout an altercation in a car parking zone of the mall. He additionally claimed {that a} member of Morant’s entourage “shoved him in the head”. The car parking zone incident allegedly occurred 4 days earlier than the incident with {the teenager}.
When quizzed by the police, Morant did admit to hitting {the teenager} however reportedly informed them that he had acted in self-defence. He claimed that {the teenager} had thrown a ball at him after which stepped towards him.
The two incidents are the most recent in a string of troubling studies surrounding Morant. Last month, the league investigated claims by the Indiana Pacers that Morant’s entourage had “aggressively confronted” members of Pacers touring occasion and threatened them by pointing a purple laser at them, probably hooked up to a gun.