Grizzlies' Ja Morant doesn't mind being the NBA's 'villain'

It was the sort of moment that Ja Morant craves. He hit a game-winning jumper at the buzzer to lift the Memphis Grizzlies past the Miami Heat, then skipped down the court listening to the silence he created.

He was the villain. And he doesn't mind.

"I feel like I've been the villain for the last two years now," Morant said. "Not even just to this crowd."

Morant has certainly spent plenty of time in that role. His ability to take over games was on display Thursday night; the game-winner capped a 30-point night and helped Memphis snap a four-game losing streak. That could have been the story.

It wasn't. At least, not the whole story.

Morant's history with guns — real ones and now pretend ones — is a talking point again. He was suspended twice by the NBA in 2023, once for eight games and the other for 25, for showing guns on social media, first in a Denver-area nightclub and then for having one in the passenger seat of a vehicle.

He was criticized this week for making a finger-shooting motion in the direction of the Golden State Warriors' bench, evidently avoiding league sanction because Buddy Hield of the Warriors was doing the same his way. And in Miami on Thursday night, there was more celebrations involving him mimicking the act of shooting a gun toward his own bench after a made 3-pointer. It made headlines.

[MORE: NBA warns Ja Morant, Buddy Hield following gun gestures ]

"I'm well aware," Morant said. "I'm well aware."

He was asked if the criticism bothers him. He indicated that it doesn't.

"I'm kind of used to it," Morant said. "I was pretty much a villain for two years now. Every little thing, if somebody can say something negative about me, it's going to be out there. So, yeah. I don't care no more."

The