Shannon Sharpe reacts to Ja Morant's friend ban over Pacers dispute / News - Basketnews.com

Shannon Sharpe criticized Ja Morant for wanting to show he's a gangster in the NBA by surrounding himself with these types of people: "You got a $200 million contract and you want people in the NBA to think you hood, to think you gangster."

Credit: AP, Reuters - Scanpix Credit AP, Reuters - Scanpix

NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, a co-host of Undisputed Podcast, commented about Memphis star guard Ja Morant and his friend, who was banned from attending Grizzlies home games at the FedEx Forum for a year.

Ja Morant

Team:Memphis GrizzliesPosition:PGAge:23Height:190 cmWeight:79 kgBirth place:South Carolina, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Morant's long-time friend Devonte Pack verbally abused Indiana players during and after the Pacers-Grizzlies game on January 29.

"Ja is a really good basketball player," Sharpe pointed out. "Ja did everything he could to lift himself and his family out of this type of environment and to get away from this. And for some reason, he wants to surround himself with these type of people. Why?

People in that life would give anything to be in your life. You got a $200 million contract and you want people in the NBA to think you hood, to think you gangster," the 54-year-old former athlete said.

Sharpe, who got into heated exchanges with the Grizzlies players and Ja's father, Tee Morant, not too long ago, also said that Ja Morant should focus on just playing basketball because he is about to put himself and his family in trouble.

The Pacers felt threatened and reported the incident with Devonte Pack to the NBA, which later launched an investigation into the matter.

Although the Pacers believed a gun was pointed at them after the game, the NBA denied it in their report.

Morant later took to Twitter to express his thoughts about the situation and criticized The Athletic for publishing the story.

"Did a[n] investigation seen they were cappin', [and] still let a[n] article come out to paint this negative image on me & my fam[ily] & banned my brother from home games for a year. Unbelievable," Morant tweeted.

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