NBA delaying Ja Morant decision sounds ominous for Grizzlies star

Despite the investigation being mostly complete, the NBA won’t announce discipline for Ja Morant until after the NBA Finals.

For the second time this year, the NBA is finalizing an investigation into Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant. But Morant and the rest of the NBA will have to wait to find out the results.

On Thursday, as the NBA Finals between the Nuggets and Heat tipped off, NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed to reporters that the league’s investigation into Morant’s latest behavior involving a firearm on social media is just about finished.

However, the league has also decided to put off announcing the results of that investigation and any punishment coming Morant’s way until after the Finals are complete.

NBA delaying Ja Morant announcement sounds bad for Grizzlies star

Silver told reporters that a player’s past history is taken into account when deciding on discipline along with the seriousness of the situation.

“In terms of the timing, we’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information since I was asked about the situation,” Silver said. “We probably could have brought it to a head now, but we made the decision, and I believe the Players Association agrees with us, that it would be unfair to these players and these teams in the middle of this series to announce the results of that investigation.”

It’s possible that what the NBA uncovered doesn’t make it more likely that Morant will be suspended or suffer other punishment. But the framing of Silver’s answer certainly makes it feel like there is something more there.

If Morant was being cleared of any wrongdoing, the necessity of keeping the news from distracting from the NBA Finals would be drastically diminished. Instead, it sounds like the league is bracing for impact.

In March, Morant was suspended for eight games by the NBA after he was seen on social media waving a firearm around in a nightclub during a Grizzlies road trip. That was just the latest of a series of concerning incidents involving the two-time All-Star.

Two months later Memphis suspended him from team activities when he once again appeared on social media with a firearm.