Adam Silver And The NBA Have Suspended Ja Morant 25 Games To Start Next Season

As soon as the Finals ended, the collective basketball world was all waiting for the same thing. Adam Silver promised us a Ja Morant punishment decision after the Finals, and yet we had nothing for days following the Nuggets chiop.

We now know what it is

In the end, Adam Silver decided to suspend Ja Morant for 30% of the season, which certainly isn't insignificant. It also seems like there will be some additional boxes Ja will have to check in order to come back

but that was the case last time and nothing changed so I'm not sure why that even matters. After hearing how Adam Silver talked about this whole ordeal, you knew he was going to drop the hammer to some degree

I'm honestly a little surprised they landed at 25. You could have told me half a season or something and I would have believed it, but we sure as shit knew it was going to be way more than 8 considering Ja's first suspension for this very same act didn't do shit. Silver pumped that up by 3x to hopefully send a message and if this doesn't work and we get another Ja video on social flashing a gun, he's probably looking at 50 games or something along those lines. 

For the Grizzlies, this is obviously a huge deal. Getting off to a good start is so important for NBA contenders. Not everyone is going to go on a Miami Heat-esq postseason run as a lower seed. A 25 game run will take the Grizzlies into early December without their franchise point guard, and at that point the goal has to be to find a way to stay around .500 right? Just stay in the top 7 conversation until he's back and then go on with your season. They've shown the ability to win without Ja before, and now their 2023-24 season depends on being able to do it again for 30% of their games.

I also wonder if this is now going to impact their draft/free agency plans considering all they have at the point guard position that you feel good about is Tyus Jones. He can slide in and fill that starter role without too many issues, but after him it gets very thin very quickly. Could they be looking at some cost-effective free agents? Maybe they trade for a guy like Payton Pritchard? Maybe Pat Bev comes in? Reggie Jackson? Ish Smith? Jevon Carter? As you can see, the names of UFA or potential low cost trade targets aren't exactly great.

As a Grizzlies fan I suppose you're maybe relieved that it was only 25 games considering we were hearing numbers that were much, much higher, but at the same time it's not exactly the start to your season that you were hoping for after another playoff run fell short.