Ja Morant acted against teen in self-defense, Tennessee judge rules / News - Basketnews.com

Morant was deemed to have acted in self-defense despite the teenager claiming otherwise. The 17-year-old's legal team is going to fight the verdict and prove to have been right.

Credit: AP - Scanpix Credit AP - Scanpix

Ja Morant got into a series of scandals last season that caused the player to miss a significant portion of the 2023-24 season. The player has been cleared in one of them.

Ja Morant

MIN:35.33PTS:25.11 (56.41%)REB:5.67As:8.11ST:0.78BL:0.56TO:3GM:9ProfileNBA2023/2024

A story came out in the middle of the previous season that he punched a teenager during a basketball game in his home in Tennessee. After the incident, he allegedly re-emerged from the house with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on the weapon.

The Memphis Grizzlies star has testified he acted in self-defense during the episode. According to court documents obtained by ESPN, Morant has now been ruled to have acted in self-defense.

According to the judge, Morant is deemed to have acted in self-defense under Tennessee's self-defense immunity statute. The plaintiff's legal team now has to prove otherwise.

The two are said to have engaged in a verbal conflict. According to police documents, the 17-year-old said the argument got heated, and he then threw the ball at Morant, hitting him in the face. Morant then approached him, the plaintiff said, and after some deliberation, hit him "with a closed fist, knocking him to the ground."

The 17-year-old claims Morant kept hitting him while he was on the ground, with another man joining in later. Morant, on the other side, said that the guy threw the ball at him intentionally, contrary to what the 17-year-old said, and "began to approach him as if he wanted to fight."

The teenager, Joshua Holloway, and his attorney team are going to continue fighting, Baxter Holmes from ESPN notes. "We're disappointed, and we will continue to take the steps necessary to protect and advocate for Joshua," the teen's attorney told ESPN.

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