Grizzlies 'anticipate' Ja Morant returning for team's next game after suspension
Morant has missed the last nine games after he appeared to flash a gun on Instagram Live
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said the expectation is for Ja Morant to play on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets.
Morant was handed an eight-game suspension for "conduct detrimental to the league" following an investigation into the video of Morant appearing to display a gun at a nightclub in Colorado.
The league said the suspension came in response to Morant’s video in which he is "holding a firearm in an intoxicated state while visiting a Denver area nightclub."
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Grizzlies guard Ja Morant goes up for a dunk against the New Orleans Pelicans on March 8, 2022, in Memphis. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
Morant last played on March 3 in Denver, hours before the Instagram Live post, missing the Grizzlies' last nine contests.
"We anticipate him playing tomorrow," Jenkins told reporters on Tuesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Shortly after the video, Morant checked into a counseling program to "work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being."
The Grizzlies superstar said the gun was not his but took "full responsibility" for his actions.
"It's not who I am. I don't condone any type of violence, but I take full responsibility for my actions," Morant said. "I made a bad mistake, and I can see the image that I painted over myself with my recent mistakes, but in the future, I'm going to show everybody who Ja really is, what I'm about and change this narrative."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Grizzlies guard Ja Morant reacts during the first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves on April 19, 2022, in Memphis. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
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But the video came after a slew of incidents involving troubling behavior. It was revealed shortly before the nightclub incident that Morant was involved in a physical altercation with a teenager at his Memphis home during a game of pickup basketball. Morant flashed a gun in that incident as well, claiming he acted in self-defense and that the teenager said he would "blow [his house] up like fireworks."
Last month, the Indiana Pacers claimed that after an altercation between associates of Morant and the Pacers, a red laser was pointed at the team from an SUV that was carrying Morant, which the Pacers believed was a gun.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The NBA investigated the incident and found that no "individual threatened others with a weapon."
Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies reacts during the 76ers game at Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 23, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
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Memphis went 3-3 in Morant's first six missed games, but have won their last three.