After the NBA fined Ja Morant $75,000 last week for making finger-gun gesture celebrations, the Memphis Grizzlies star has found a new way to commemorate a made 3-pointer.
In the Grizzlies’ 141-125 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, Morant mimicked pulling a pin, tossing a grenade and covering his ears following a made 3. It was the second straight game in which Morant had made the grenade gesture, having unveiled it Tuesday when Memphis played at Charlotte.
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“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.
The NBA fined Morant $75,000 on April 4, one day after the 25-year-old mimicked shooting a gun with his fingers after a made 3 — once in the first quarter and once in the third quarter — in the Grizzlies’ win over the Miami Heat. Ahead of that matchup, the NBA notified Morant he wouldn’t be punished for his April 1 gun-related gestures while playing the Golden State Warriors.
Morant finished with a team-high 36 points and shot 5 of 13 from behind the arc against Minnesota.
Ja Morant ditched the gun celebration for a grenade celebration pic.twitter.com/tgKKWidB5k
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) April 11, 2025
Against Golden State, Morant and Buddy Hield engaged in a verbal altercation that included the gun-related hand gestures. Both players and teams received warnings from the NBA, and the league told each team the gestures were inappropriate and instructed them to stop using them, a league source told The Athletic. The argument from the teams’ side was that the gestures were not intended to be violent, according to the league source.
Despite the warning, Morant continued the gesture into the next game against Miami and received the fine one day later.
Morant, a two-time All-Star, was also suspended twice in recent seasons for gun-related incidents.
In March 2023, the NBA issued an eight-game suspension after Morant was seen brandishing a gun on Instagram Live while at a gentlemen’s club in Glendale, Colo. He also missed the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season due to suspension after he was seen holding a handgun while riding in a car on Instagram Live.
While the NBA does not have a rule against specific gestures, the league has fined players for making gun-related motions before. In 2017, then-Phoenix Suns forward Josh Jackson was fined $35,000 for gesturing toward a fan in a way that appeared to mimic pulling a trigger. In 2015, then-Miami Heat guard Gerald Green received a $25,000 penalty for making a similar gesture.
The NBA caps the fines for on-court conduct at $100,000.
(Photo: David Jensen / Getty Images)
