‘I’m not forcing a historic game my first game back. I’m just super excited to be back out there.’
Ja Morant finally gets over ‘horrible days’ as he returns for the Memphis Grizzlies after a 25-game ban. | JOE MURPHY/agence france-presse
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Two-time National Basketball Association All-Star guard Ja Morant says he endured "horrible days" during a 25-game ban and prepares to return to the Memphis Grizzlies with a new outlook on life.
Morant spoke after a Grizzlies workout on Friday after being suspended for the first 25 games of the NBA season following two social media videos showing him displaying a gun went public.
"Definitely tough. Horrible days," Morant said of his ban.
"But the support I had throughout this process, it definitely helped me a lot. It was pretty much all I could lean on."
The 24-year-old American, named the NBA's Most Improved Player in 2022, will be eligible to return on Tuesday when the Grizzlies play at New Orleans.
"I'm just trying to come back and do whatever I can to help the team win," Morant said. "I'm not forcing a historic game my first game back. I'm just super excited to be back out there."
At 6-17, the Grizzlies are level with Portland for the fourth-worst record in the NBA and will struggle to try and reach the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
"There's definitely some guilt in that. Obviously I'm not on the floor and nobody likes losing," Morant said. "I take full responsibility of that… The decisions I made didn't allow me to be out there, to go to battle with my team."
Morant was able to practice with his teammates but could not be in arenas when they were playing.
Morant was issued an eight-game ban last March after a video showed him displaying a gun at a Denver nightclub, then handed the longer ban to open the 2023-24 campaign after another video of him with a gun inside a car from last May went public.
"I've made a lot of my mistakes," Morant said. "Even with my family. Not some that has even been public. I've done a lot."
Morant, however, says he has a new outlook upon life after therapy sessions and in some ways does not regret what happened because, "In the end, it made me better."
"I feel like I learned some stuff about myself during that process," Morant said.
"Very eye-opening. Gave me a new look on life with how I go about my days, how I carry myself. Just being grateful and thankful I'm still here in the position I'm in.
"The change will be my decision-making and how I go about my daily life of being an NBA player, a father, a role model, a brother, a son. Just focusing in on that — being the best Ja I can be."
Morant credited his support from friends, family and teammates through the ban, which he said kept him from the theraputic benefit of playing basketball.
"Taking that away makes it tougher but I had the right people around me… that helped me in the learning process," Morant said.
"Thankful for the support I had during this time. It's not easy, not being out there on the floor and having to watch, but being around the team, being able to practice, being able to travel, guys talking to me and vice versa — it has been good."
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