Star player for the Memphis Grizzlies Ja Morant discussed the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s shocking altercation with rookie for the Indiana Pacers Andrew Nembhard.
Grizzlies star Ja Morant gets brutally honest on heated confrontation with Andrew Nembhard
In the third quarter, Morant and Nembhard were seen on video shoving each other. Morant’s father Tee Morant and friend Davonte Pack were previously reported as being involved in the incident, with Pack being physically removed from the arena. Since Tee and Davonte were constantly communicating with the players, the Pacers’ coaches reportedly became frustrated.
In the postgame press conference, Morant explained his side of the story. After hearing Nembhard tell his father to “shut up,” he felt compelled to defend him.
“Their guys, they were talking early. Then when I went over there Andrew (Nembhard) was telling my pops to shut up,” Morant detailed, per Drew Hill of the Daily Memphian. “And then, pretty much, I heard my Pop ask him if he said, ‘Shut up.’ I was trying to figure out who he was talking to, and it was him, so I approached him. I was seeing what he was on. I checked his temperature. He didn’t have a fever.
“Then (Pacers guard Chris Duarte) came over. He tried to push me trying to break it up and I told him to stop pushing me. He said he was cooling, then his teammates came over and he started talking. They kicked my brother (Pack) out. We got the dub. They kicked him out of the Forum, too. He’s my twin.”
Here, it’s not clear who initiated the conversation. It would be reasonable for Andrew Nembhard and the Indiana squad to retaliate if it were determined that Tee Morant and Davante Pack had initiated contact and attempted to engage in trash talk. Because, as Ja pointed out, Nembhard did tell Tee to be quiet, the Morant patriarch almost certainly had something to say to him as well.
However, if it was the Pacers who initiated the fight, it would be completely unjust to eject Morant’s friend.
Still, the Grizzlies and Tee Morant are gaining a rep for heated exchanges of words like these. Therefore, Memphis must take action to prevent further disruptions.
