NBA investigating Ja Morant doing finger gun motions at Warriors bench

The NBA is investigating Ja Morant — who has been suspended multiple times by the NBA for waiving a gun on social media — for using a gun gesture toward the Golden State bench and in celebration of 3-pointers during the Grizzlies’ loss to the Warriors Tuesday night, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.

Morant made the gun gesture multiple times during the game, usually aimed at the nearest defender, and in celebration of one of his five 3-pointers. Late in the game when the Warriors were in complete control, Golden State’s Buddy Hield mocked Morant by making the gun gesture back at him. Morant saw that and made the gesture back toward the Warriors bench, with some trash talk involved.

Morant and Hield were given technical fouls for the exchange, and the league is also investigating Hield, according to the report.

Morant has used this celebration before on 3-pointers, and he is not the only player to use a gun gesture or something similar to celebrate a 3. The NBA has no rule explicitly banning a gesture, but it has fined players for things such as a throat-slashing gesture or the big balls celebration.

Because of Morant’s history, the gun gesture takes on a different significance. Morant was suspended for eight games near the end of the 2022-23 season after he showed off a gun on Instagram Live while at a strip club in Colorado. Morant told NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at the time he had learned his lesson, however, that summer Morant was seen again on Instagram Live with a gun while riding in a friend’s car. This time, the league suspended Morant 25 games at the start of the 2023-24 season.

This investigation is just another distraction for the slumping Grizzlies, who have gone 1-7 in their last eight and fired coach Taylor Jenkins during that streak. The Grizzlies have fallen back to the No. 6 seed in the West and will slide into the play-in, maybe all the way to the No. 8 seed, if they can’t turn things around.

If the NBA cracks down on gun gestures, it cannot just go after Morant, other players have used that celebration as well. The NBA also would be following in the footsteps of the NFL, which cracked down on finger gun celebrations (players have been fined).