Split photo of Ja Morant celebrating on the court and a boy talking to police on bodycam video.


Ja Morant just returned from suspension not too long ago, but it appears as though he could have more trouble coming his way.

It’s been a wild year for the Memphis Grizzlies star. So far there have been allegations of brandishing a gun at a strip club, pointing a gun at the Indiana Pacers’ team bus, threatening a shoe salesman, confronting a student at a high school, and punching a teen in the head before beating him repeatedly during a pickup basketball game.

 

The last accusation is a pretty damning one, and now we have video footage of the 17-year-old boy describing exactly what transpired to police.

In the bodycam video below, you can see the boy detailing what happened during the incident.

According to the story he told police, Ja and the teen were getting into it while checking the ball aggressively with one another before getting in each other’s face. At that point, Morant asked his entourage if he should punch the teen, to which the 17-year-old replied “hit me then.” And that’s exactly what Morant did before he and his entourage jumped the boy and beat him for “20 seconds.”


Later in the video, you can see the police discuss the incident. Some of them seemed to be in disbelief. Based on a story from the Washington Post, the incident went somewhat “unchecked,” as lackadaisical police work led to no charges being filed and the case being “quietly shelved.”

Whether the emergence of this bodycam footage changes anything or not remains to be seen. But it certainly wouldn’t shock us if the NBA decided to look into this matter and administer some additional punishment to the 23-year-old all-star.