Ja Morant, Adam Silver to meet as Grizzlies star nears possible NBA return after suspension

Posted by Artie Phelan on Sunday, June 9, 2024

LAS VEGAS — NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he is scheduled to meet with suspended Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant this week, as the date for Morant’s possible return inches closer.

“I have been monitoring this situation closely,” Silver said of Morant, whom he suspended for at least 25 games for multiple instances of Morant brandishing a gun in public over the last year.

Advertisement

“We together laid out a program for him over the last several weeks, and to the best of my knowledge, he’s complied with everything he’s been asked to do,” Silver said Saturday.

Morant, a two-time All-Star, would be eligible to play his first game for the Grizzlies on Dec. 19 in New Orleans against the Pelicans. The Grizzlies, who finished second in the West last regular season, have been hammered by Morant’s absence, key injuries and roster changes that to this point have not worked out. They are currently 6-15 and in 13th place in the West.

Silver suspended Morant for eight games last season for wielding a firearm in a Denver-area nightclub. Last summer, video clips circulated on social media showed Morant riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle with friends, dancing to a rap song and holding a gun while he was dancing.

Silver said, “We’re going to talk directly once, at least this week, before he comes back, (and) I think we’ll review the program and just make sure the conditions are in place for him to be successful going forward.”

Other topics Silver addressed

Silver, who spoke to reporters ahead of the In-Season Tournament finale in Las Vegas on Saturday, also defended two controversial elements of the tournament he created, and touched on non-IST topics.

Silver clarified a suggestion one of his chief deputies had made earlier this season about load management, saying, “there is no data that it does work.” Last month, Joe Dumars, an executive vice president for the NBA, said the league had data that showed that load management — the buzz phrase for holding players out of games who are not injured — doesn’t prevent injury.

Dumars made that statement as part of the league’s push to promote its strengthened player participation policy — drafted during the offseason because too many star players were missing too many nationally televised games.

Advertisement

“I think what Joe is saying is that we have no data that (load management) prevents injuries,” Silver said. “I don’t think there’s any question that a player that’s playing three games in four nights, for example, when a player is tired, that it impacts performance.

“The question is, I think the ultimate notion behind load management isn’t so much that there isn’t a fall for performance when you’re tired and fatigued. The question is does it lead to more injuries and especially the way load management is now used?”

Silver said he was “surprised” when the NBA players’ union announced last month that executive director Tamika Tremaglio was leaving the role, and former Golden State Warriors star Andre Iguodala was taking her place.

“I had no prior knowledge that there was any issue there,” Silver said. “I mean, she and I had a very professional relationship in the role. But ultimately, I recognized that changes we could make at the league office, the players association could be saying, ‘I had no idea any changes were coming in terms of executive positions here.’ It’s my job to work with whoever is presented to me.”

Last month, the union announced that Tremaglio’s departure was a shared decision and amicable, but union sources said there was no indication from Tremaglio that anything like it was coming. She was in the middle of making January travel plans as executive director one day before the surprise announcement.

Tremaglio and Silver negotiated the current collective bargaining agreement that was completed in July.

“As far as I can tell from the outside, it’s been a very smooth transition there to Andre Iguodala as I guess the interim executive director,” Silver said. “Nothing has changed in terms of our day-to-day relations with them, and I have no other knowledge about why either the players association or Tamika decided to, you know, change the relationship.

Advertisement

“We have not missed a beat in terms of our relationship (between the league and union),” Silver said.

Required reading

(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGppbmhia3xzfJFsZmpqX2WGcLbAZqSoqpGjwW6tw5qkZquZocOmvoymnJ6smaO0cA%3D%3D