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Following his 25-game suspension, Ja Morant finally returned to the court on December 19, when the Memphis Grizzlies played against the New Orleans Pelicans. However, The Finder's Tom Haberstroh wrote a piece about the time that Morant called an NBA referee "a ho" on the record during a post-game interview, which never got out.
In Haberstroh's piece, he mentioned that he obtained the audio and wrote an article about the "role of in-person media as a guardrail for the NBA superstar." However, several NBA fans were not too fond of the topic of the piece or even the timing of its release.
With that said, here's a look at what the fans had to say on the matter:
"So many lifelong hall monitors in NBA media. Congrats on your success I guess?"
Fans were upset that the article was published after Morant was finally eligible to play with his team, rather than when the Grizzlies guard was still serving his 25-game suspension.
The fans saw the published article as tasteless and insensitive while placing more controversy on a player such as Ja Morant. Some also saw it as the writer just making money off of Morant's name by citing another questionable incident involving him.
Ja Morant reflected on 25-game suspension
In a France 24 article, the Memphis Grizzlies star talked about what it was like during his 25-game suspension and his intention to help his team turn their season around.
"Definitely tough," Morant said. "Horrible days. But the support I had throughout this process, it definitely helped me a lot. It was pretty much all I could lean on. I'm just trying to come back and do whatever I can to help the team win. I'm not forcing a historic game my first back. I'm just super excited to be back out there."
From Morant's comments, he isn't entering by trying to do too much on the court. Through the process of undergoing the challenging suspension, Morant is just focused on being a team player and growing with his team this season.
Since his return to the team's lineup, the Memphis Grizzlies have won four straight games, with things looking to get even better ahead. In the four games that he has played so far with the team, Ja Morant is averaging 28.8 points (50.6% shooting), 8.5 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game.
