Lawyers for teen suing NBA star Ja Morant over a fight during a pickup game withdraw from the case
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Lawyers for a teenager suing two-time NBA All-Star Ja Morant over an altercation during an offseason pickup game can withdraw from the case after citing irreconcilable conflicts with their client, a Tennessee judge ruled Friday.
Rebecca Adelman and Leslie Ballin had filed a motion in Shelby County Circuit Court asking a judge to allow them to withdraw from the lawsuit Joshua Holloway filed against Morant, who filed a series of picks in July 2022 -up organized games at his parents’ home, which ended with the Memphis Grizzlies guard hitting the then 17-year-old Holloway once in the face.
Judge Carol Chumney granted the request during a brief hearing Friday. Adelman did not provide details about the nature of the conflicts, saying only in court that she felt she was unable to exercise her “legal judgment” in support of Holloway. The judge gave Holloway’s parents 30 days to report to court with information about a new lawyer.
Myca Clay, Holloway’s mother, said she was looking for new representation for her son, who plays college basketball for Samford. Clay said after the hearing that she is not open to a settlement of the lawsuit filed in September 2022 and that she disagreed with the way her son’s attorneys represented him.
“I’m just trying to get justice for my son,” Clay told reporters.
The attorneys’ departure from the case came about three weeks after Chumney ruled that Morant “enjoys a presumption of civil immunity” from liability under Tennessee law. Morant claimed he acted in self-defense when he punched Holloway after the teen threw a basketball at Morant, hitting the NBA player in the face.
Morant testified at a hearing in December that he feared being hurt after the teen punched him in the chest, clenched his fists and got into a fighting stance before Morant punched Holloway.
The NBA player’s lawyers have argued that Morant is protected by Tennessee’s “stand your ground” law, which allows people who feel threatened at home to take violent action in certain situations. The law is used in criminal cases, but an earlier court ruling cleared the way for Morant’s lawyers to apply it in the civil case.
A trial was scheduled for April, but has been postponed indefinitely.
Morant tore the labrum of his right shoulder in early January, an injury that required surgery, ending a season that started with Morant being suspended by the NBA for the first 25 games over a video of the guard flashing a gun online .
The video showed Morant sitting in the passenger seat of a car and was posted after he served an eight-game suspension in March for another video in which he displayed a gun at a Denver-area strip club.
Morant apologized for both videos.