"What the f**k did I do illegally" - Gilbert Arenas shares 'hard facts' behind Ja Morant's suspension by NBA
The NBA has suspended Ja Morant for 25 games without pay for conduct deemed detrimental to the league after an Instagram Live emerged of him flashing a firearm. The Memphis Grizzlies star will need to meet certain conditions before he is eligible to return to the court.
The following has been released by the NBA. https://t.co/dzDSb4uCk3
Gilbert Arenas, who was suspended for 50 games in 2010 after a firearm incident of his own, weighed in on the suspension. During a recent appearance on Vlad TV, Arenas stated:
"To be honest, just hard facts, there's nothing that f**king they can do so if he wanted to stand tall and say, 'what the f**k did I do illegally? The answer is nothing so f**k off', he can technically do that."
"I didn't do nothing that broke any rules. There's no investigation going on by Memphis so there's no investigation by the police. There's nothing the NBA can do."
"They can try to say, 'alright, Grizzlies we're going to fine you' or whatever. They can try to pull one of those so go over Ja's head and go to the Grizzlies themselves and say, 'you're going to have to do something'. They can pull that card. The NBA can go to the Grizzlies and say, 'you're going to have to fine him for at least two games or whatever, but at the end of the day, there's nothing that can happen."
Check out Gilbert Arenas' full comments on Ja Morant below:
Arenas claims that the league does not have the authority to suspend players without the approval of the franchise, which is not true. Furthermore, while Morant did not break any criminal laws, his status as an employee for a private company leaves him open to punishment.
What did Gilbert Arenas say about Ja Morant's previous suspension?
Ja Morant was suspended for eight games back in March for an Instagram Live video in which he similarly flashed a firearm. Gilbert Arenas weighed in on the situation at the time, stating:
"I've never gotten suspended for guns in the locker room. I guess they're using 50 games as the benchmark, because that was what I got. The real story is, I got bullied into 50 games. What I got suspended for was detrimental to the team because when the media was attacking me, like Ja, I was reacting emotionally."
"I was suspended indefinitely until furthermore – 'until we evalutate the situation' – but all it was was to get me out of the media, because the story was too big for one or two games ... [Commissioner David Stern] said, 'You're going to take 50 games or I'm going to come after your contract.' At the time, I had just lost my Adidas deal."
Check out Gilbert Arenas' comments on Ja Morant below:
In light of Ja Morant’s situation here’s the real reason why the NBA suspended Gilbert Arenas for 50 games @GilsArenaShow
Full episode: youtu.be/RN0OrflZWkY https://t.co/0hptXil1fi
Arenas was suspended for the final 50 games of the 2009-2010 season. While he returned to the court the following season, his production dipped significantly and he played just 87 total games following the incident.