Ja Morant should STOP trying to ‘keep it real,’ ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins insists

Armed with guns, Ja Morant needs to stop trying to “keep it real” and instead focus on “playing it,” according to ESPN personality and former NBA center Kendrick Perkins.

Who do you do it for? Perkins asked on Monday’s episode of ESPN’s First Take. ‘Are you doing it for applause?… ‘Oh yeah, man, you know what, it’s a real one. He is a real one. Keep it real for who?

Morant will be sidelined with the Memphis Grizzlies for at least their next two games, the team announced Saturday, shortly after the NBA opened an investigation into a social media post by the guard, who went live holding what appeared to be a gun in a nightclub. The video was posted by Morant to his Instagram page early Saturday morning, hours after the Grizzlies played in Denver.

That incident followed a game against the Indiana Pacers; citing anonymous sources, The Indianapolis Star and USA Today reported that several members of the Pacers saw a red dot pointed at them, and The Athletic reported that a Pacers security guard believed the laser was attached to a weapon.

Also, a recent Washington Post report claims Morant threatened a security guard at a Memphis mall last summer during an altercation in a parking lot four days before allegedly beating a 17-year-old, retrieving a handgun from his home and resurfacing with the firearm at the waist. Morant was also seen imitating finger guns during a recent sideline celebration against the Houston Rockets on March 1.

Ja Morant, armed with guns, must stop trying

Gunsmith Ja Morant (left) needs to stop trying to ‘keep it real’ and instead focus on ‘hooking’, according to ESPN personality and former NBA center Kendrick Perkins (right)

The problem, according to Perkins, is that the 23-year-old Morant is trying to impress people he should be ignoring, given all he has to lose.

You work all your life to get out of a situation you found yourself in to give yourself a better life, to secure your future, to secure the future of your children, the future of your children’s children, to get to this point, never to return. trying to please others,” said Perkins, a 38-year-old man who was raised by his grandparents in a low-income area of ​​East Texas.

And Perkins wasn’t just talking about Morant, but the entire Grizzlies organization. The former NBA champion with the Boston Celtics called out Memphis stars Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. for unspecified tweets.

“This is not just Ja Morant, when it comes to the Memphis Grizzlies,” Perkins told host Stephen A. Smith and guest Brian Windhorst. ‘Look, these are the Memphis Grizzlies as a whole. You’ve got Desmond Banes (sic), Jaren Jackson Jr. I see how they talk on social media and I keep asking ‘why?’ Like, you guys are basketball players. You are basketball players. You don’t have to worry about that life. About what life? Just try to jump.

Perkins was sympathetic to Morant, a young millionaire who could be the target of would-be thieves.

After all, Perkins played in Boston with Paul Pierce, who was stabbed in a club in 2000 and certainly started carrying a gun afterward.

“First of all, to people in the outside world who have never been in this situation, they don’t know how difficult it is,” Perkins said. “You don’t understand coming from nothing and suddenly having the world in the palm of your hands, having access to millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, traveling on private planes, doing whatever you want at a young age.” – 23, 24, 25 years old – you don’t even understand why you’ve never been in that position.

It’s a difficult position to be in.

Morant drew criticism at a recent game for imitating guns during a sideline celebration.

Morant drew criticism at a recent game for imitating guns during a sideline celebration.

Jaren Jackson Jr.

Desmond Bane

Perkins wasn’t just talking about Morant, but the entire Grizzlies organization. The former NBA champion with the Boston Celtics called out Memphis stars Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. for unspecified tweets.

Perkins went on to say that he hopes Morant gets some help, adding that “he’s going to be fine” because the All-Star point guard is still young enough to trade.

But Perkins’ biggest fear is that Morant and other athletes are making it difficult for the next generation of black players to succeed at the professional level.

“What the players are doing today, in today’s game, man, they’re killing the next generation,” Perkins said, referring to the recent trend of trade lawsuits among the best players in the NBA. “They’re killing 80 percent or more of the African American kids that are out there grinding, day in and day out, parents sacrifice money that they don’t have to travel to make sure their kids get to these AAU games because these kids They might actually have a chance to make it to the league.

‘It gets to a point where you just have to focus solely on what got you here, be thankful for what got you here, and stop trying to please the ‘real’, quote unquote, who don’t give a fuck. Perkins continued. “Because when all is said and done, once you stop playing, your phone stops ringing.”