Ja Morant may not be alive in five years, claims ESPN analyst

Ja Morant’s future should be a huge reason for concern if you’re a member of the Memphis Grizzlies’ organization right now. The NBA will likely make an example out of him.

Morant has every right to bear as many firearms as he can. But Commissioner Adam Silver made it clear that he won’t tolerate him showing them off on social media, given that he’s one of the faces of the league.

However, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith isn’t even worried as Ja as a basketball player. Instead, he fears Morant might not even be alive five years from now if he doesn’t turn his life around.

Stephen A. Smith: People Fear Ja Morant Might Not Be Alive In Five Years

“People within the NBA community are not just concerned about Ja Morant playing basketball, they’re concerned whether or not he’s gonna be alive in five years because of the environments he finds himself around and the situations he finds himself confronted by,” Stephen A. told Rich Eisen. “It’s a serious matter and I think it’s something that the NBA and anybody who knows anything about the kind of things that are going on with him, needs to find themselves concerned about.”

Stephen A. Says Morant Shouldn’t Be Suspended For A Year

But as worried as he is about Morant, Stephen A. still believes he shouldn’t be suspended for a year. The league wants to make an example out of it and will likely lay the hammer on him:

“Adam Silver pretty much indicated that he knows what he’s going to do, but he doesn’t want it to be a distraction from the NBA Finals,” Smith said on his podcast. “We know it’s not good news. Because if it was good news, why not just announce it and move on with the Finals? There are some people who are saying Ja Morant should be suspended for the year.”

“Let me be very, very clear I will be the first to raise holy hell with all that I have if he is suspended for the year. I understand that he has impugned the integrity of the league, but it shouldn’t be a year. It shouldn’t even be half the season. If he ends up getting a 25-game suspension, I think that’s fair,“ he added.

Whatever the case, Morant put himself in this position, so he has to deal with the consequences now. No one put a gun to his head — no pun intended, and he did get away once.