The Memphis Grizzlies suffered a tough 134-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. It was Memphis’ fourth straight loss that puts them in range of potentially participating in the play-in tournament. However, despite the team’s woes, all eyes are on Ja Morant for his actions on the court late in the fourth quarter.
Morant was spotted using a gun-like hand gesture toward the Warriors bench immediately after Jimmy Butler sunk a free-throw shot. On Wednesday morning, the NBA announced they were investigating the hand gesture, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Tim MacMahon. The report indicates a possible punishment could come to fruition.
“The NBA is looking into Memphis’ Ja Morant using finger gun motions toward the Golden State Warriors bench last night, sources tell me and Tim MacMahon.”
Several hours after the report was announced, Ja Morant took to social media and shared two cryptic posts. The 25-year-old point guard laughed off the probe in his first post on X, formerly known as Twitter by ending his statement with a laughing emoji.
“Ja this… Ja that…”
A minute later, Morant shared another post blessing everyone. He ended this statement with a praying hands emoji.
“God bless y’all.”
There is some controversy surrounding the NBA’s decision to investigate Ja Morant’s hand gestures. Fans were quick to point out that Warriors guard Buddy Hield allegedly pointed finger guns at the Grizzlies star first, which led to Morant reacting to Hield’s gesture. In the clip, you can see Hield doing the hand gesture on the sideline, which is where Morant pointed his finger guns.
Here’s Buddy Hield doing finger guns at #Ja first. pic.twitter.com/LzNvYpkZHX
— Jeremy Jordan (@gritgrind) April 2, 2025
The NBA has yet to announce their findings in the probe and it may take several days before the league makes a final decision. Numerous players have utilized similar hand gestures in the past and the league hasn’t seemed to have had an issue with it. However, Ja Mornt’s off-court history could be the reason why an investigation is taking place to begin with.
Morant missed nearly the entire 2023-24 season after being suspended for 25 games after flashing guns on social media on more than one occasion. He also was involved in an alleged fight with a teenager during a pickup game of basketball. Ja Morant did return to action though and played in nine contests before sustaining a season-ending torn labrum in his shoulder.
This season, Morant has played in 46 games. He’s averaged 22.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game while shooting 45.4% from the field and 30.0% from the three-point line.
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