Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant posted a series of messages on his Instagram stories that some are defining as cryptic. In the stories he says “love ya” to his mom, dad, and daughter and the final story is captioned “bye.” Is the young baller in trouble?
Morant initially deleted three of the stories, leaving up the last with the caption “bye.” Now all the stories are no longer visible.
As you know Morant was suspended from all team activities after a video showing the All-Star guard holding a gun in a social media video while riding in a car with friends went public earlier this month. This is the second time in three months Morant has been seen on social media with a gun.
Rampant speculation is what we’ve normalized in 2023 on social media. Everything a public figure does will be dissected and analyzed with all sorts of theories posited. the truth is usually revealed over time.
What Did The Posts Mean?
Maybe Morant’s in a “dark” place and posting a love message to his family is the light he needs. Maybe he’s headed back to a treatment center. Maybe he doesn’t know how to handle the pressures of fame, riches, and being the face of a franchise and league.
Maybe Morant was experiencing emotions and wanted to show love to his family. Maybe he’s bracing for a lengthy suspension and the “bye” was for his fans and supporters. Maybe he’s a 23-year-old who has lived the majority of his life on social and he was just putting stuff out there, because that’s what you do.
Short of Morant telling us exactly what he meant behind the posts, we won’t know. Frankly, we don’t need to know.
What we do know is that Morant is at a crossroads in his life as a young man and one of the faces of the NBA.
He has engaged in reckless behavior over the past year involving brandishing guns and the alleged assault of a teenager. Whatever is going to happen regarding any open investigations involving those incidents will play out over time.
What Now For Ja Morant?
But now it’s about Morant taking accountability for who he is as a father, son, teammate, and friend. There are a lot of people in his life that depend on him in a variety of ways. He’s letting himself and all of them down.
If he wants to continue to share his basketball talents with the world and use his incredible fame and celebrity to uplift and help those around him and a larger community, he needs to be around to do so.
Gun violence in the United States is a serious problem that is not going away. Morant doesn’t need to be caught up in behavior that could jeopardize his life.
Back in March Morant met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the two had a frank conversation about what was at stake according to reports. Silver seemed to walk away from that meeting believing that Morant understood the gravity of the situation.
For Morant to engage in this type of behavior again, barely two months later, shows he has difficulty exercising proper judgment. Unfortunately that has consequences, both foreseen and unintended.
