Ja Morant: Report About Friends' Postgame Altercation with Pacers 'Pretty Much False'

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant said a report regarding an altercation between his associates and the Indiana Pacers traveling party following a Jan. 29 game was "pretty much false."

Bob Kravitz and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported "acquaintances" of Morant "aggressively confronted members of the Pacers traveling party near the team's bus in the loading area of FedExForum, and later someone in a slow-moving SUV—which Morant was riding in—trained a red laser on them."

One security guard said the red laser was "100 percent" attached to a gun, while another person said "we felt we were in grave danger" upon seeing it.

"All that stuff pretty much false. It's been proven," Morant said, per Mark Giannotto of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "That's all I got to say on it."

The NBA investigated the situation, and league spokesperson Mike Bass told The Athletic "we substantiated that a postgame situation arose that was confrontational" but "could not corroborate that any individual threatened others with a weapon."

Yet the league responded by banning "certain individuals involved in the postgame situation" from attending future games in Memphis.

Morant also addressed the incident in a tweet:

The game, which was a 112-100 victory for the Grizzlies, was a particularly heated one with Morant's father, Tee, and friend, Davonte Pack, among those who verbally sparred with the Pacers. Pack was removed from the floor at one point, and, according to The Athletic, was among those who confronted Indiana's traveling party near the team bus after the game.

For his part, Morant said he is hoping to avoid the situation becoming a distraction.

"I honestly don't care, bro," he said. "At this point in my life, I'm protecting my energy. I'm not responding to nobody else, not entertaining nobody else. That's what they need. Likes and clicks."