Ja Morant may as well be digging his own basketball grave, a former NBA great said.
The Grizzlies star doesn’t seem to care if he gets punished for his gun-related celebrations on the court, and the guard already received a $75,000 fine from the NBA for using the gun gesture this week, even after receiving a warning.
To Spencer Haywood, it’s not a fine to just brush off.
He told TMZ Sports that Morant is “ruining his career.”
“The people that are around him are not advising him right,” the Hall of Famer said. “He’s ruining his career, he’s ruining his family’s life, and his team most importantly, he’s letting them all down. So, I’m just disappointed in Ja.”
The five-figure fine came from Morant making a gun-related celebration twice in the Grizzlies’ 110-108 win over the Heat on Thursday.
In the previous game against the Warriors, he also used the same celebration and directed it at Golden State’s bench.
Following the game, the NBA announced they were investigating the incident.
Haywood, a former four-time All-Star and 1980 NBA champion with the Lakers, noted there’s “no excuse” for using the gun celebration given the history Morant has with real firearms.
In 2023, Morant was suspended for eight games for holding a gun on an Instagram Live stream while inside a strip club just outside of Denver, Colorado.
Then, two months later, he made another video brandishing the weapon and he received a 25-game suspension.
Haywood, who knows Morant personally, believes the two-time All-Star can put this all behind him if he takes the right steps.
Haywood also wants to address the issue with the two-time All-Star in person and may even fly to Minneapolis to talk some sense into him.
“I was pretty much a villain for two years now,” Morant said on Thursday after the game. “Every little thing, if somebody can say something negative about me, it’s going to be out there. So, yeah. I don’t care no more.”
The Grizzlies face the Pistons on Saturday night and all eyes will be on Morant to see if a third celebration comes into play.
