Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant retired his finger-gun on-court celebration and debuted a new controversial move during his team’s 141-125 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.
Morant — who was recently fined $75,000 for “twice making an inappropriate gesture on the playing court” during an early-April win against the Miami Heat — chose a grenade-themed celebration this time. He finished Thursday’s loss with 36 points (shooting 5-for-13 on three-pointers) and marked his successful three-pointers by acting like he was pulling a pin and tossing a grenade, according to an Associated Press and ESPN report.
The report added that “in some cases” he “covered his ears after the windmill-like hurl of the invisible explosive.”
“That’s my celebration now until somebody else has a problem with it, and I’ll find another one,” Morant said after Thursday’s shootaround, per the report.
Prior to being fined $75,000 last week, the former Rookie of the Year was warned for his actions.
New Celebration Draws Criticism From Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith
Among the critics for Morant’s new celebration were Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal of “Inside the NBA” on TNT.
The trio of former NBA players commented on Morant’s fake-grenade move following Thursday’s Western Conference battle, with Smith noting that the two-time All-Star “has a history that maybe he shouldn’t be doing that.”
“He knows what he’s doing because y’all are going to keep talking about it,” O’Neal added, according to the report.
Barkley pointed out that recently-fired Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins may be the happiest person because he “ain’t got to deal with (Morant’s) immature stuff.”
Grizzlies third-year shooting guard Vince Williams Jr. was supportive of his teammate’s choice to change celebrations, however, saying that he “would have went to that, too.”
“It’s good for him,” Williams said, according to the report. “He gets to save his money. Anything that benefits him saving his money, I’m all for it, honestly.”
Morant Continues Historic Stretch in Loss vs. Timberwolves
Even though Memphis (47-33) dropped the important late-season matchup against Minnesota (47-33), it wasn’t due to the play of Morant.
The former No. 2 overall pick’s 36-point effort stretched his streak of consecutive 20-point games to 16. Per Statitudes’ Justin Kubatko, that’s the third-longest streak in franchise history.
Furthermore, Kubatko noted that Morant has averaged 29.0 points and 7.1 assists per game with an 86.0% free throw percentage during the timeframe.
Morant and the Grizzlies close their regular season with two crucial Western Conference showdowns. They’ll travel to take on the Denver Nuggets (48-32) on Friday and will host the Dallas Mavericks (38-42) on Sunday.
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Ja Morant Blasted For Controversial New Celebration After Getting Hit With $75K Fine