Irving: “an overload of judgment on Ja”
Kyrie Irving, no stranger to negative media attention, spoke his opinion on the Ja Morant drama as he is back after an 8-game suspenion.
Memphis Grizzlies star point guard Ja Morant is available to start with the team again this Wednesday after an incident saw him sit out with an eight-game suspension. Morant had posted an Instagram Live video in which he was seen holding a gun at a night club along with people drinking alcohol around him, which violated NBA rules. It was one of several incidents that saw Morant in the media in a negative light.
Irving defends Morant
Dallas Mavericks’ newest star, Kyrie Irving, knows all to well what it’s like to have negative media attention as an NBA player. He was also suspended earlier in the season when he was still with the Brooklyn Nets, after he posted an Amazon link to a movie called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America”. The movie is based on a book with the same name, which quotes Hitler to try and prove that Jewish people are planning world domination. Irving was accused of being anti-semitic, but refused to apologize until he was eventually suspended. Last year, Irving was unable to play in home games in New York as he refused to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, for which he was also highly criticized.
After the Mavs’ loss to the Morant-less Grizzlies on Monday, Irving gave his thoughts to the media about Ja Morant and his situation.
“I believe any hardship in life builds character,” said Irving. “When you’re dealing with particular hardships in the public eye, especially with the media being attracted to just keeping up with what we’re doing, or what’s the next kind of grab or story.”
“I don’t want to assume anything by every media member, but that’s just the way it seems for me,” he continued. “And my perspective is there was an overload of judgment on Ja, there was an overload of judgment on what I had going on, and there’s usually an overload of judgment from the public court of opinion.”
The Instagram Live was just one of several recent incidents involving Ja Morant and some form of violence or guns. For his part, Morant is taking responsibility for his actions and says he is working on becoming a better person. He spent the 11 days away from the team at a counseling facility in Florida to work on using better coping mechanisms for stress.