Adam Silver is fully aware of the rumors surrounding whether Ja Morant was actually waving a toy gun during his second Instagram Live scandal … but ultimately, the NBA commissioner says it might not make a difference when determining his impending punishment.
Silver spoke at length about Ja’s situation in an interview on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Thursday … and he said the crux of the issue is how the Memphis Grizzlies star’s actions disregarded the importance of gun safety.
“It’s interesting,” Commish said Thursday. “The very issue for Ja, certainly in the first incident, was treating a gun as a toy. That’s what we’re talking about and that’s what I think the danger is to society.”
“Taking a gun, live streaming it without getting into gun issues in terms of the propriety of owning guns and the use of guns, I think everyone agrees that gun safety is critically important and that guns aren’t toys.”
He added … “It’s something that I’m thinking a lot about because, again, I’m not going to get into specifics about the investigation, but in fact, if you’re live streaming something to the world that looks exactly like a gun and in a frankly reckless manner, should it matter whether or not it’s a real gun?”
The claim gained traction after Claudia Jordan said on “The Breakfast Club” earlier this week that she heard from Ja’s camp that the weapon shown in the video was actually fake.
Silver says the league will look into “whatever is presented to us” before concluding the investigation … and will take past conduct and the circumstances of the situation into account.
Silver explained what’s most important is getting Ja right as a human being … with basketball taking a backseat for the time being.
Ja Morant Doing 'Good' After 2nd Gun Incident, Says Teammate Jaren Jackson Jr.
Ja was suspended indefinitely from all Memphis Grizzlies activities shortly after the video went viral — he later apologized for his actions, but did not say if the gun was real.
The league will announce Ja’s punishment following the NBA Finals … and Silver hopes his time away from playing will put the rising star back on a positive trajectory.
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