Ja Morant Cleared to Practice, Travel with Grizzlies During 25-Game Suspension

Memphis Grizzlies star point guard Ja Morant is beginning the 2023-24 season with a 25-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the league, but that won't stop him from being with the team.

Per ESPN's Tim MacMahon, Morant will be permitted to practice and travel with the Grizzlies while serving his suspension.

The NBA suspended Morant on June 16 for posing with a handgun in a live stream on social media in May. The incident came less than two months after he was suspended for eight games for displaying a handgun on a live-streamed video while he was intoxicated at a Denver nightclub.

As part of the announcement of Morant's suspension, the league stated that he would be "required to meet certain conditions before he returns to play and will be ineligible to participate in any public league or team activities." It appears that he's fulfilled those requirements up to this point.

"I think it's great for Ja, and I think it's great for the group that he can be with us day-to-day," Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman said during media day on Monday. "The NBA basically has said that as long as Ja continues to stay on track, he's going to be clear to participate in all private team activities, so practices, shootarounds, traveling with the team. He's not going to be with us, obviously, for preseason games and the first 25, but we'll see him out there and we can't wait to have him back Game 26."

A two-time All-Star, Morant is entering the first year of a five-year, $197 million maximum deal. He did not participate in media day, but Kleiman said he believes the 24-year-old is doing the right things to avoid incidents going forward.

"I would again just say I think he's taken meaningful, positive, healthy steps in the right direction," Kleiman said. "We're going to continue to give him the structure to be able to follow through on that."

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins noted that Morant will not work with the starters during training camp.

"We've got a separate plan designed for him outside just the team training where we're going to push him," Jenkins said. "He's excited about it and how we can challenge him even more, when we talk about being the best version of Ja moving forward."