NBA investigation into Ja Morant is almost complete

DENVER — Adam Silver said the nbaResearch I dwell is nearly complete and a decision on further punishment for the grizzlies The superstar appearing wielding a gun on social media for the second time will be announced shortly after the conclusion of the NBA Finals.

“We’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information … and we probably could have brought it to a head,” Silver, the league commissioner, said during his annual session with reporters before Game 1 of the finals.

Silver said he decided, with the agreement of the league’s players’ union, to withhold the ad so as not to overshadow the pips–Heat series. He noted that Morant, a 23-year-old two-time All-Star, He’s already suspended by the Grizzlies.so “nothing would have changed anyway in the next few weeks.

“We looked at the story of the previous acts, but we also looked at the story of the individual player,” Silver said. “And then that and the severity, of course, of the conduct.”

On or about May 14, a couple of weeks after the Grizzlies were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs, Morant appeared in a video in which he was riding in a van with several people, listening, dancing and singing. along with rap. music.

A camera was capturing the situation on Instagram Live, and at a brief moment in the video, Morant appeared to be holding a gun in his left hand. morant was suspended for eight games in March for brandishing a weapon at a Denver-area nightclub, in an incident he posted to his IG Live account.

Silver and Morant met at the league’s New York office after the suspension was imposed.

“I think he understood that it was not about his words, but about his future conduct,” Silver said. “I don’t think we know yet what it takes to change her behavior. I’m going to say the same thing I said at the time. He seems to be a nice young man. I think he’s clearly made some mistakes, but he’s young.

“I hope now, once we conclude at the end of our process what the appropriate discipline is, that it’s not just about discipline,” Silver said. “Now it’s about what we, the players’ association, his team and the people around him are going to do to create better circumstances going forward.”

In 2009, Gilbert Arenas, then playing for the washington wizards, brought unloaded weapons to the locker room after a heated card game. The NBA, under commissioner David Stern, suspended him 50 games.

The NBA has never found Morant bringing a weapon onto team property.

Other Silver Availability Notes

On Eric Lewis’ research:

Silver said veteran referee Eric Lewis was left out of the final rotation for officials because “it would not be appropriate for him to work” while the league’s investigation was ongoing on a Twitter account linked to Lewis.

On Team USA’s international aspirations:

International basketball is in another two-year cycle of major competition, with the FIBA ​​World Cup in the Philippines this summer and the Paris Olympics in 2024. The NBA’s top foreign stars routinely play for their home countries in the summer, even if the level of competition is below a World Cup either Olympic Gameswhile Team USA has trouble fielding a team of top American professionals for any tournament other than the Olympics.

Of this phenomenon, Silver said: “I would take one of those competitions, similar to what they’ve done in soccer, for example, where I think it’s essentially 23 and under for Olympic competition. I think it’s too much to create the expectation that every couple of years our best players will go back to competing independently in the summer. Putting load management aside for a second, there’s no question that there’s massive wear and tear.

“I think here we should work with our federation ultimately, and whether it’s the World Cup or the Olympics, maybe have one where you’re unlimited in terms of age and your best game, and then the other competition is one where your best under 23 or something like that competes, and once you’ve done that, then their expectation is that you continue to compete,” Silver said.

Silver also noted that most other competitive countries would not implement the same age cap because their talent pools are smaller.

On the new NBA games incentive:

Silver talked about a new rule to incentivize more player participation — players must appear in at least 65 games to be considered for MVP awards — and resisted shortening the regular season from its current 82-game format.

“We are putting an incentive in place for players to play more games in the regular season,” Silver said. “There’s no magic at 65, but we’re trying to account for games, of course, that are going to be lost because of injuries, and maybe occasionally even a player needs to rest.

Added Silver: “What’s interesting is that what we saw this year perhaps surprised some, it was an all-time record attendance, more people attended NBA games than at any time in our history. Clearly our fans are not saying to reduce the number of games.

“Ultimately, to me, as the science improves on injuries, if we had better data to suggest that a shorter season and fewer consecutive games would make a significant difference, I think we’d take it seriously.”

(Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)