Ja Morant, who is a very popular basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies, has gotten in a lot of controversy as of late. Morant has been accused of assaulting a seventeen-year-old, flashing a gun on his Instagram live, and has allegedly brought a gun on his team’s bus. All of this has resulted in suspensions, and he has lost sponsorships because of these incidents.

Morant was suspended by the Grizzlies and for eight games by the NBA for “conduct detrimental to the league.”

Ja Morant is a very talented basketball player that many looked up to but with all of the trouble it definitely changes people’s perspective on him.

Morant was on his way to having another phenomenal season with the Memphis Grizzlies averaging 27.2 points per game, 6 rebounds per game, and 8.2 assists per game. The Grizzlies, even without Morant, are still one of the best teams in the league. They were 49-28 through March,  and are second in the western conference. But, when Morant got suspended, they have won three games and lost three games. It is definitely an understatement to say that Morant is a huge part of this team and its success.

However, even though Morant is a great basketball player, people’s perception of him, and other basketball players have changed.

All over social media people are talking about Morant and his situation. Many are making jokes about Morant — like how his favorite basketball player must have been Gilbert Arenas. Arenas was a basketball player who played mostly for the Washington Wizards in the 2000s and then got suspended for fifty games for threatening to shoot a teammate.

Morant’s situation is a lot different because even though Morant and Arenas both got suspended for having guns, only one of them threatened to shoot someone. Morant also has lost many sponsorships like Powerade and Nike — Arenas did not have many big sponsorships.

Even though Morant was suspended by the Grizzlies and the NBA for the past couple of weeks, NBA commissioner Adam Silver met with him.  According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “The NBA is suspending Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant for eight games without pay for conduct detrimental to the league.”

This news definitely stirred up controversy on all of the social media platforms. Some people were saying that the suspension is well deserved and good while other people think it was just a slap on the wrist. All over Twitter is the meme from SpongeBob where Patrick and SpongeBob go to jail and then three seconds later, they are released.

However, Morant also is getting counseling. According to Wojnarowski, “Morant entered the counseling program in Florida shortly after announcing that he would step away from team to seek help.”

Morant has said he has been struggling with mental health lately and it is good to see him take some steps to help improve his mental health.

Ja Morant is a very talented basketball player, but he has to realize that even though he is making millions of dollars and might feel untouchable he really is not. He also many young fans looking up to him. With everything going on in his life, many hope that he can stay out of trouble for a while.