MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Grizzlies have a major community impact in Memphis, and a lot of the spotlight surrounds Ja Morant.
Amid investigations into Morant after he flashed what appeared to be a gun in an Instagram livestream, some fans are just hoping for a little grace when it comes to judging his actions.
“We see it as an opportunity for us to be able to look at Ja and we kind of have put some extra pressure on him,” Memphis Athletic Ministries’ Jonathan Torres said. “The reality is that if Ja was one of our MAM kids, we would look at him and tell him that we would wish better for him that we don’t want him to be living a lifestyle that could get himself in some trouble.”
As president of an organization working hand in hand with the Grizzlies and young athletes in the Mid-South (MAM) he said what he wants for Ja aligns directly with what he wants for the youth he mentors.
“We tell our kids at MAM all the time that you can have an opportunity to repent, that you can turn the other direction and do something different, and that’s what we would with for Ja right now,” Torres said.
Above all else, Torres wants the community to remember Ja Morant is a human.
Krissi Carr is the mother of Zander Carr who got a signed pair of sneakers straight from Ja just a few months ago. She says they travel three hours to Grizzlies games and this incident won’t change that.
“We all make mistakes until we become the person that we’re supposed to be,” Carr said. “It doesn’t change my opinion of him, it doesn’t change our fandom — nothing. We’re still gonna go to Memphis games we’re still gonna support Ja whether he plays in these games or not. We’re still going to be there cheering on the rest of the team because we love the team in general.”
“Ja is a big inspiration for a lot of folks out here in Memphis, especially the young ones, I just hope this isn’t the case with Ja, I mean he’s a really important figure – he shouldn’t be doing stuff like this,” fan Jorge Mayorga said.
Ja is missing Tuesday night’s game against the Lakers but head coach Taylor Jenkins said there’s no set time table for Ja’s return, saying this is not a "time-table situation."