Where are the Adults in Ja Morant’s Life?

I have had Allen “AI” Iverson, his Mother Ann, and Georgetown Hoyas Coach, the late John Thompson, on my mind since Ja Morant instagrammed his way into several games’ suspension and immortality for all the wrong reasons.

Thompson was the legendary Hoyas coach who ignored naysayers and recruited Iverson to the then-blue chip basketball program in 1994. He recruited Iverson despite the high schooler’s three felonious convictions caused by his role in a racially charged brawl at a bowling alley while AI was a two-sport star at Bethel High School in Virginia. “The Answer,” Iverson’s other name, had served four months of a fifteen-year sentence before he was granted clemency by Virginia’s first black governor Doug Wilder. By effectively taking a chance on Iverson and recruiting him after his mother “*begged him (Thompson) to give him a chance*,” John Thompson played the male/father-figure role the immensely talented young man sorely needed. For her part, Ann was Mother to a young black man whose father, Allen Broughton, was absent. She realized they both needed help — Allen needed a male role model; she needed the good graces of someone. She asked and searched and found it in Coach John Thompson.

For the uninitiated, Temetrius Jamel “Ja” Morant, his government-issued name, is the Memphis Grizzlies’ twenty-three-year-old basketball phenom. Drafted second overall in the 2019 draft, Morant was well on his way to becoming THE face of the NBA, and Nike, and Powerade, and…., until both his parents enabled behavior that resulted in a series of actions by the authorities — Memphis Grizzlies, NBA, Denver Police, and his employer, the National Basketball Association (NBA) — to rein him in.

First came the January 20th pushing and shouting in a game against LeBron James and the LA Lakers. In that game, former NFL star/now ESPN commentator Shannon Sharpe got into it with Ja, his teammate, and wanna-be-bad boy Dillion Brooks. Unfortunately, also in the kerfuffle with Sharpe was Ja’s father, Tee Morant.

Before that, or at least during the same news cycle, Ja’s mother, Jaime, effectively sicced his superstar son and nine hangers-on on an employee of the sporting goods store Finish Line. In the ensuing altercation, one of Ja’s crew “pushed the (mall) security guard in the head” and allegedly “threatened” the guard security after he asked Ja, his mother, and her son’s crew to leave the establishment. Peace and calm were restored when the police arrived, but not before Ja told the guard, “*Let me find out what time he gets off*.” Implied in these nine words was the threat that Ja and his crew would come back when the guard got off work and continue the altercation.

The tipping point came after a Memphis loss to Denver. In an Instagram Live feed, a bare-chested bejeweled Ja is brandishing a pistol in a club. Shortly thereafter, media outlets began announcing that Memphis Grizzles had suspended Ja for at least two games.

There is more to add to basketball player’s trouble, including assaulting a seventeen-year-old — over a backyard basketball game — in his, Ja’s, own backyard. There was an altercation between Ja’s crew and members of the Indiana Pacer, including scenes of Davonte “DTap” Pack walking onto the court during the game. where a red laser light was pointed at someone.

However, what stands out or is disturbing, at least to me, is the role Ja’s parents — Tee and Jaime — appear to have played in two of the three more alarming incidents. There is the shouting match with Sharpe involving his father and the threats against mall security, thanks to a phone call from his mother. In both instances, Ja’s parents either joined in the fracas or instigated it. On the incident involving his mother, I am beyond flabbergasted that a black mother, Ja’s mother Jaime, would call his young black son into a situation with the potential of escalating into a showdown with the authorities or Memphis Police Department.

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith addressed Ja Morant’s father Tee with the following excerpt that captures the essence of my post:

“*I’m simply trying to highlight and illuminate to Tee Morant the importance of him being a dad. You raised him. You helped get him to this point. Make sure that you don’t let anybody get in the way of what he is on the verge of accomplishing. Make sure you do your part in protecting him instead of joining in to have a good time like you’re one of his boys. You’re not one of his boys. You’re his dad.*”

The preceding quote from Smith explains or captures why I have had AI, Ann, and Coach Thompson on my mind. The latter two came together to rescue a talented young man who needed love, direction, and guidance.

The “Prodigal Son” brought back into the fold by adults who acted their age.

Where are the adults in Ja Morant’s life?