Despite Not Wanting Ja Morant's Situation To Take Away From The Finals, Adam Silver Keeps Talking About The Ja Morant Situation

Before the NBA Finals Adam Silver came out and said the NBA had determined a punishment for Ja Morant, but he wouldn't tell anyone what it was because he didn't want that storyline to take away from the Finals. That makes some sense I guess, despite the fact that it very much did make it a storyline right ahead of the Finals that people were going to talk about.

Now midway through the Finals, Adam Silver again is making his rounds talking about the Ja Morant situation/punishment

I imagine this was an appearance that was previously agreed to, and I get that technically you can't just go on the Dan Patrick Show and say "no comment"…..but Adam Silver is certainly not putting this story on the back burner while the Finals are going on. While Silver didn't really give specifics, he did hint at some things that I found to pretty interesting

1. He doesn't seem to give a shit/buy that spinzone that it was a toy gun

You can understand why maybe the Morant camp thought this was a trump card and wanted that idea leaked, but just look at how Silver answered that question. Does that look like a man that will say 

"you know what, if it was a toy then we're all good! No harm no foul!"

No chance. Who knows whether it's true or not, but it's clear that when it comes to how the NBA is going to handle this situation, it doesn't seem to matter. Whether you think it should or not is a different discussion, but I didn't get the vibe that Silver or the league is going to give a shit.

2. He wouldn't give the suspension amount, but it sure feels like it's going to be substantial

I get why this was asked, but no chance Silver was going to tell us the number. He seemed pretty adamant that after Ja went through this the first time and promised to cut that shit out only to immediately do it again was disappointing and clearly impacts how the league views this situation. He mentioned prior behavior being a factor, so it does feel like we're going to see something much longer than the 8 game suspension Ja served the first time around, and I don't think that's all that crazy.

I don't know if that should mean 30 or 40 or 50 games or an entire season, but it's definitely going to be more than 8.

There's no denying that whatever the league decides, any sort of lengthy suspension is going to have a big time impact on the Grizzlies 2023-24 season. That's not Adam Silver's problem, but it is the reality of the situation. This is going to be a major storyline for the entire Grizzlies season until Ja eventually comes back, and given how competitive the West is probably going to be, I wonder how that impacts what the Grizzlies do this offseason. Do they move guys in order to bring in guard help that may not have been available had this never happened? Could that mean guys like Steven Adams/Luke Kennard could be had for the right pieces? It's not like the Grizzlies are projected to have any legit amount of money to spend this offseason

and as of now only Tyus Jones and Jacob Gilyard are the only guards on the roster. That's a position that absolutely has to be addressed this summer, and the Grizzlies will be doing it without a ton of leverage. That usually means you're overpaying.

With the Finals ending in just 10 days, it's not like we have to wait forever until we learn what the punishment will be, but I do find it crazy that there hasn't been a Shams/Woj leak yet. Someone in the league office knows what the number is, and nobody is talking? In 2023? No anonymous sources or anything? That might be the craziest part of this whole thing.