Ja Morant had unfortunately timed endorsement announcement

Feb 2, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) reacts after a play during the first half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

In hindsight, Ja Morant’s new endorsement deal could have picked a much better launch date.

On Wednesday, Powerade announced a new partnership with the Memphis Grizzlies star Morant, who will serve as the face of their rebranded product. It is Powerade’s first partnership with an athlete in more than five years and is expected to be the largest campaign in Powerade history, per Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Morant himself even tweeted out his new ad for Powerade (featuring his outspoken father Tee Morant as the narrator).

I need some more upfront 🗣️ @Powerade_US now with 50% More Electrolytes #MoreElectrolytes #Sponsored pic.twitter.com/RQ5eTGUMi3

— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) March 1, 2023

In an unfortunate twist of fate though, Morant took an enormous negative PR hit just hours after the Powerade partnership was announced. Later in the day on Wednesday, news broke that Morant was facing new allegations of threatening behavior. You can read the troubling details (involving two separate incidents of alleged violent conduct by Morant) here.

Morant, 23, is already one of the most exciting players in basketball with his touch-the-sky style of play for a Grizzlies team on pace to win 51 games this season. But Morant continues to demonstrate disturbingly poor judgment off the court (also getting involved in a scary alleged fracas after a game in January). Powerade executives cannot be too happy about that (nor about how awful the timing of their launch ended up being).