Ja Morant came up against a basketball analogy during a civil trial on Monday.
Morant is getting sued over a physical altercation with a teen in a pickup basketball game at his Memphis-area home in July of 2022.
The Grizzlies star punched area basketball prospect Joshua Holloway in the head, and has maintained that the blow was in self-defense after Holloway threw a basketball at him.
During testimony on Monday, Rebecca Adelman, the attorney representing Holloway in the case, showed highlights of Morant on the basketball court and said that his explosive dunks were emblematic of “the type of force that came at Holloway,” according to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.
Morant said during testimony that he could not recall another time in which a basketball opponent threw a ball at him.
At one point during Monday’s testimony, Adelman asked the Grizzlies star about a necklace with the acronym MBNO — meaning “my brothers no others” — he gave to a friend and witness in the case.
“Those aren’t real diamonds in that necklace, right?” Adelman asked Morant.
“Well, I am a millionaire,” Morant answered.
Separately from this case, Morant received a 25-game suspension from the NBA to start this season after he was seen brandishing a firearm on a live stream for the second time.
Morant is eligible to return for next Tuesday’s Grizzlies game versus the Pelicans.
Morant had previously been suspended last year, when he flashed a gun during a live stream at a strip club in Colorado just days after a bombshell Washington Post story that detailed Morant’s altercation with Holloway and multiple other cases in which Morant or his inner circle were accused of threatening violence against others.
Last year, the Grizzlies finished second in the Western Conference with a 51-31 record, but have sputtered this season without Morant, starting the year 6-15.
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