After the NBA fined Ja Morant $75,000 final week for making finger-gun gesture celebrations, the Memphis Grizzlies star has discovered a brand new strategy to commemorate a made 3-pointer.
Within the Grizzlies’ 141-125 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night time, Morant mimicked pulling a pin, tossing a grenade and protecting his ears following a made 3. It was the second straight sport during which Morant had made the grenade gesture, having unveiled it Tuesday when Memphis performed at Charlotte.
“That’s my celebration now till anyone else has an issue with it, and I’ll discover one other one,” Morant mentioned after Thursday’s shootaround.
The NBA fined Morant $75,000 on April 4, at some point after the 25-year-old mimicked capturing a gun along with his fingers after a made 3 — as soon as within the first quarter and as soon as within the third quarter — within the Grizzlies’ win over the Miami Warmth. Forward of that matchup, the NBA notified Morant he wouldn’t be punished for his April 1 gun-related gestures whereas enjoying the Golden State Warriors.
Morant completed with a team-high 36 factors and shot 5 of 13 from behind the arc in opposition to Minnesota.
Ja Morant ditched the gun celebration for a grenade celebration pic.twitter.com/tgKKWidB5k
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) April 11, 2025
In opposition to Golden State, Morant and Buddy Hield engaged in a verbal altercation that included the gun-related hand gestures. Each gamers and groups obtained warnings from the NBA, and the league informed every crew the gestures have been inappropriate and instructed them to cease utilizing them, a league supply informed The Athletic. The argument from the groups’ facet was that the gestures weren’t meant to be violent, in line with the league supply.
Regardless of the warning, Morant continued the gesture into the following sport in opposition to Miami and obtained the fantastic at some point later.
Morant, a two-time All-Star, was additionally suspended twice in current seasons for gun-related incidents.
In March 2023, the NBA issued an eight-game suspension after Morant was seen brandishing a gun on Instagram Reside whereas at a gents’s membership in Glendale, Colo. He additionally missed the primary 25 video games of the 2023-24 season as a consequence of suspension after he was seen holding a handgun whereas driving in a automobile on Instagram Reside.
Whereas the NBA doesn’t have a rule in opposition to particular gestures, the league has fined gamers for making gun-related motions earlier than. In 2017, then-Phoenix Suns ahead Josh Jackson was fined $35,000 for gesturing towards a fan in a means that appeared to imitate pulling a set off. In 2015, then-Miami Warmth guard Gerald Inexperienced obtained a $25,000 penalty for making an identical gesture.
The NBA caps the fines for on-court conduct at $100,000.
(Photograph: David Jensen / Getty Photos)