Update: Ja Morant Suspended 8 Games by NBA (Could return to court Wed 3/22)

[ItsDanger]

Don't buy the alcoholic angle. That's something that's hard to hide everyday. Just the smell is a dead giveaway.

[RoundMoundOfRebound]

Don't buy the alcoholic angle. That's something that's hard to hide everyday. Just the smell is a dead giveaway.

Like Ron Artest drinking Hennessy ... at halftime?

[monopoman]

Don't buy the alcoholic angle. That's something that's hard to hide everyday. Just the smell is a dead giveaway.

It could be mostly drugs with a bit of alcohol, drugs is very easy to hide unless you are going to a insane extreme hours before games. ****, depending on which drugs you are taking, they won't even pop up in most drug tests if you have say 48 or 72 hours until one.

Sure if he is pounding a 6 pack an hour or so before a game it's very easy to tell, but most NBA players know not to do that.

[Clemenza]

What does he need counseling for tho ??? Just don’t do stupid **** that’s gonna cost yourself millions of dollars and your nba career duh he so dumb and so is he dad mom etc so pathetic

"Counseling" could be a code word for a number of things to protect his image and career. Not from my mouth but he could be in drug and alcohol rehab for all we know

[Lalouie]

i don't think he needs an intervention

what he needs is for nike, powerade, and the nba to sit him down and say here's what's what you idiot. aside from everyone on the media on HIS SIDE all saying "WTF". it takes about,,,,,,,an hour

which is what they're probably doing, and extending his suspension just for show.

[gambitx777]

Just say the pictures and video the strip club released.
One kind of **** of them to take a pay day from tmz when he clearly dropped paper there.
Two I'm sorry that's just a young fella enjoying his money with a young lady who by all accounts is there on her own free will making money and probably paying off a loan or 12.
The thug stuff sure flame him. But the picture with the strippers. Leave the kid alone.

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It’s not about being at a strip club or getting a lap dance. Who cares?

It’s about getting photographed at a strip club shirtless while getting a lap dance while you’re suspended from your extremely high profile job for off-work behavior.

Ja has more than enough money to pay a stripper to come to his house. Being so dense that you don’t realize how terrible the optics are here is the real issue, not the fact that he went to a strip club.

I don't know if you saw the pictures but I'm fairly certain he was getting more than a lap dance.

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[Gusto1903]

i don't think he needs an intervention

what he needs is for nike, powerade, and the nba to sit him down and say here's what's what you idiot. aside from everyone on the media on HIS SIDE all saying "WTF". takes about,,,,,,,and hour

which is what they're probably doing, and extending his suspension just for show.

Isnt that something like an intervention lol

[NO-KG-AI]

So basically he'll be done with counseling and rehabilitation as soon as the Grizzlies either start to slip or need him for the playoffs?

[Jfh20]

this is why athletes should avoid social media... had he not put anything on his IG he'd be good... he can wave his guns all he wants in private , but putting it out there stains the nba image and they had to take action.

[trickshot]

His support system should be ashamed. There are orphans who had no life guidance who are better behaved. Did anyone ever tell him off or ido they just do him like their financial support?

[baldur]

just close all the social media. social media is for ordinary people to feel better and more important and feel like they are celebrities. Ja morant doesn't need social media attention at all.

[chrisab123]

The strip club thing is just another day for James Harden.

[hauntedcomputer]

Some of you clearly have no concept of alcoholism, the disease and condition (not saying that's what this is, but you don't understand it unless you are one or more truthfully once you decide it's gotten so bad maybe you ought to do something, because plenty of drunks just keep on into the grave, nuthouse, or prison.)

I'd be surprised if he's in a rehab facility. That would be a formal admission of a problem with a rather definite length of stay--going in for a week is meaningless. And it would pretty much require him to not be seen in a club or with alcohol for the rest of his career, perception-wise.

"Counseling" is generic enough that the grizz could easily bring him back with the "counseling" ongoing. That would give them cover for a while. I just wonder whether Ja is showing up wanting to make a change or is just stewing in resentment and waiting until everyone looks away so he can get back to the life.

So far there's been nothing from Ja personally (not that he owes us anything) and all other parties seem to be content letting Memphis provide the cover. So far so good from a PR perspective.

[jokeboy86]

Ja is probably a case of too much too fast. He wasn't highly recruited at all and even nowadays there seems to be a much better system or at least improving for guys who look like lottery picks their junior or senior year in high school so things don't go off the rails by the time they get to the league. In fact it wasn't until a couple of games into his soph season at Murray St when he started to get all the attention and buzz. In the end I think he'll be fine because I think the one good thing about social media is that this happened early in his career so now he and his team/family can correct it. There's going to be a lot of tough conversations between him and his circle though because he's probably going to need to make it smaller and cut a ton of people off.

[kent335]

The counseling that Ja Morant should get is a having a bully shine a laser at his face, and pointing a loaded gun at him. That should wake Ja Morant up.

[Johnny Bball]

Don't buy the alcoholic angle. That's something that's hard to hide everyday. Just the smell is a dead giveaway.

Keon Clark was drunk for every game and drank at the half.

[Johnny Bball]

Glad he went to rehab but you have to want to change. I dunno. He managed to **** over all his teammates and their season with his behaviour, is he really all of a sudden going to see what the issue really is?

[GSWFan1994]

Man - not discounting that drug and alcohol issue at all but this dude is an absolute stud on the court if he’s truly suffering from that. Not sure the extent of it but he obviously performs at a 10/10 level every night.

Maybe he is a functioning addict. I guess he’s still young so it’s possible the effects haven’t hit him yet.

Wishing a speedy recovery. It’s not like he’s killed anyone and his actions are that severe I guess

My guess is that those issues are way overblown... just a PR move to use moral relativism to save his face for the **** he did.

"I'm still a good person, I was under "stress", so I did what I did, forgive me..."

This is just corporate linguo by the PR masters to buy him time and sympathy from the public.

Also, another angle to this:

If he's in an alcohol and drug addiction...

a) the NBA doesn't have a proper testing system
b) the NBA knows about his problem, doesn't care about it

Either way, a bad look for the league.

[GSWFan1994]

So basically he'll be done with counseling and rehabilitation as soon as the Grizzlies either start to slip or need him for the playoffs?

He will be back as soon as this is not the "current thing" in the public eye.

[JonFromVA]

The Ja/Grizz need to explain where this gun came from, because unless someone "cares to" admit they gave it to Ja in Denver, it's a fair presumption he brought it with him on the road trip ... which is an automatic 50 game suspension.