Ja Morant is still riding with his old man through it all.
Baxter Holmes and Tim MacMahon of ESPN released a lengthy feature Wednesday on the Memphis Grizzlies star Morant and the whirlwind last year-and-a-half that has seen him get into a lot of trouble. The feature also touched on Morant’s controversial dad Tee, who has been a courtside fixture at his son’s games. Holmes and MacMahon say Tee’s presence at games and his tendency to make headlines while there have “dismayed” some within the Grizzlies organization. They even quoted one unnamed team source as saying that Tee has been a “driving force” behind his son’s behavior.
“Tee has been a major driving force in all of this,” the source reportedly said. “He never made the NBA, but this was his chance to live like he’s an NBA superstar. That’s been a problem from the beginning.”
The full Holmes-MacMahon feature touches on many other of Ja’s ups and downs and is well worth reading in its entirety (which you can do so here).
Later in the day Wednesday, Ja appeared to issue a response to the report. He posted a picture to Instagram of himself with his dad in the background.
“keep LIVIN the dream OG,” Ja wrote in his caption. “this hoopin shii started wit you, I just continued it.”
Ja Morant shows love to his father Tee Morant on Instagram after 🔥
An anonymous Grizzlies team source attributed Tee with being a "driving force" in Ja's recent behavior. pic.twitter.com/S24dg2Dc97
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) October 18, 2023
Indeed, Ja’s success in the NBA has helped his father become a viral star in his own right. Tee used to have some very wholesome courtside moments in front of the cameras. However, that eventually devolved into a number of heated mid-game arguments between Tee and others (including Grizzlies opponents and even Shannon Sharpe). With Ja getting himself suspended multiple times since then for brandishing weapons on social media, some have blamed Tee for supposedly enabling his son’s antics.
Tee did recently have a notably strong comment about Ja’s issues. But he is still a popular target of criticism for many, even if Ja doesn’t seem to think that it is warranted.
