NBA commissioner Adam Silver plans to meet with Grizzlies star Ja Morant in person this week as the suspended player’s return grows near.
Morant has been serving a 25-game suspension to start the 2023–24 NBA season after the Memphis star was seen holding a gun on an Instagram Live video for the second time this year. He originally served an eight-game suspension for the first video.
In order to return to play, Morant continues to work through a program with the NBA that “directly addresses the circumstances that led him to repeat this destructive behavior,” the NBA’s statement read in June.
Silver provided an update on Morant’s status in the program on Saturday at the in-season tournament. The 24-year-old meets with the league about once a week.
“Yes, I have been monitoring the situation closely, and him. In fact, we intend to have a check-in this week directly, Ja and I,” Silver said, via ESPN. “But folks in the league office, together with Ja and his team and the Players Association, have been in regular contact, essentially weekly. There have been those checkpoints.
“We’ve, 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. As I said, we’ll talk at least once this week before he comes back, and we will review the program and make sure the conditions are in place for him to be successful going forward.”
The first game Morant is eligible to return to would be the Tuesday, Dec. 19 matchup vs. the Pelicans as that will mark the Grizzlies’ 26th game this season. Morant will need to be reinstated by the league before that date officially marks his return.
Based on Silver’s update, though, Morant will likely be able to return by the end of the 25-game suspension since he’s “complied with everything” thus far.