Grizzlies’ Jenkins: team ‘had conversations in the past trying to guide’ Morant

Memphis had hoped to avoid landing exactly here.

Ja Morant remains away from the Grizzlies for at least another week following his apparent display of a gun at a club, broadcast on his social media. In the wake of several other incidents prior to that moment, the Grizzlies had people try to talk to and mentor Morant, but to no avail, sources had previously told NBC Sports. Grizzlies coach Tyler Jenkins echoed that on Thursday.

“We have had conversations in the past trying to guide him and help him continue to evolve as a person and a player,” Jenkins said, via the Associated Press. “Obviously, this came to a head the other day, so we put this process into action.”

The Grizzlies have approached this situation in the spirit of what they had done before the incident in Glendale, Colorado — the focus has been on helping Morant find the best path for him in the future. The organization and players have talked about rallying around him, while the league continues its investigation into the incident and how the handgun in question got to the club.

“I take full responsibility for my actions last night. I’m sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire organization for letting you down,” Morant said in his only statement on the situation. “I’m going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”

Jenkins said there are steps for Morant to meet to return to the team, but he would not discuss publicly what those were.

“There are definitely steps that are going to have to be met — personally and professionally — as he deals with some stuff personally to get better,” Jenkins said.

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