Breaking news: Ja Morant suspended for 25 games by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver

25 games I'm just going to throw my immediate reaction out this is too light and I'm curious to see what you guys say about that I'll tell why in a second but 25 games shocks me I had been hearing it was going to be between 25 and 30. I wasn't believing those reports yes let me just real quick just so we're all on the same page here uh Sean's charnia and woja both reported that it's 25 years official though it's official what also said that there are stipulations that come with the suspension he

has to fulfill and I'm apologize for reading off my phone but this just came in that's fine he has to fulfill certain conditions within the team and the league yeah it's a very long oh wow statement from there so I'm going to try sifting through here uh do you want to read the statement from these sift through it we're going to come back to you for the cliff notes in 20 SEC or 30 seconds but G bush what's your immediate reaction when you hear 25 games because I I thought that it would be 41 as

a low and 82 as a high for a full season I'm I'm I'll throw my my first uh judgment out just just hearing it from what I'm just like you guys are here just now I always go back and say what is the largest suspension I think ever given and I think it was if you take a look at the malice at the palace right it was seven was it 71 gained it was the remainder of this year 71. I think that's what it was so so you know when you take a look at what that meant I mean he was in the stadium in the stands

fighting a a patron right that's the that's the thing that you know you never want to get to the you know your patrons the your customers the fans are a part of that so I I guess that's the harshest letter of the law like hey you're fighting a fan that you can be in trouble next I look at suspensions for things like PD or gambling right so I'm looking at this during the during the Spectrum I expect it to be a half I expected it to be a half a season however I don't know I don't necessarily know

what the Players Association had to say about it right um when Gilbert Arenas took guns to work right was he suspended for how many games I don't remember I don't remember I don't remember what it was but it was at maybe 10 maybe 10. I don't know if we could look that up Anthony when Gilbert Arenas was busted bringing a gun into was it the Washington it was Washington yeah did he get 10 games my memory could be off that's been 10 years yeah so so he brought it to the workplace and it was it was

it was some animosity going on it was going back and forth like they was bringing guns like to show and so I look at it and say okay well if the Players Association says hey we do have some stipulations and we do have something that we can compare it to the guy brought guns to work he was outside of practice he was outside of a facility he didn't have any involvement yes of G did get suspended and this is the second time offender that's that's it for me I thought they was going to get him on the

second time offender I look at it like this I think they probably had a range I think if originally it probably was half a year and I don't know I think it was negotiated down and I think there's some stipulations that we'll find out he has to complete for it to get to that yeah let's go to McNuggets for that yeah so that the direct stipulations and details of whatever program are not officially announced but this is directly from the statement the NBA released 14 minutes ago quote from Adam Si

lver prior to his return to play John Morant will be required to fulfill and formulate a program that the league has directly correlated to address the circumstances that led him to repeat this destructive Behavior okay so this is something tailored specifically this is not a did you guys see that Skip Bayless said this on his podcast I didn't watch it I read the headlines and read a brief synopsis skip has become very very good friends with Lil Wayne yeah oh yeah and I don't know if skip asked

Lil Wayne to reach out to jabarant or if Lil Wayne did it on his own and in skip having conversation with Lil Wayne this came out maybe he told skip I reached out to him and he you know he left me on red as they say so I what what worries me about that is and Lil Wayne has major major cachet in the community yeah I mean I think we all kind of recognize that at least he did with those of a certain age group oh he still do I'm wondering though if if can you imagine Lil Wayne reaching out to an NBA

player and an NBA player thinking no I don't need what he has to tell me because we've heard a lot of folks that have done that Jalen Rose reached out there are a lot of other guys that have kind of gone through his life and they want to help him and it to me what that symbolizes more than anything is this is a young man that believes he already has all the answers and he doesn't need anyone's help I think I think you can look at it like this as well you can look at it maybe he's in a dark plac

e sometimes when you do something right um and you're like dang I'd have messed up again and the whole world knows it and the whole world is on it sometimes you just you kind of you tune out like you try to tune it out as much as you can especially he doesn't know really what the impending you know disqualification is going to be if his suspension is a year long he's like man that's crazy if it's a half a year that's crazy so he's thinking about what the punishment is going to be and sometimes w

hen you you've been told and you know you got guys like us you got guys like Charles Barkley and Skip Bayless as rappers his politicians everybody probably want to get it get in contact with him there's probably a lot of requests that he gets and sometimes you just want to know Wayne sometimes look here's the thing sometimes you just black out and say listen I don't want to talk about it right now okay that's fair an update for you and I I've misremembered this yes so I have it from Bleacher Rep

ort right here written by Brian Flynn on January 27 2010 he was Gilbert Arenas was suspended for one year yeah now was it indefinite and it didn't play for a year was he suspended I don't know I'd like to call up his career stats and see what happens see you know how what chunk of games he missed here's the thing guys so so that's that's your standard right there yeah now the difference was there was some beef going on and he brought it into the workplace however I'm gonna I'm gonna say somethin

g that I'm not probably qualified to say because I don't know I haven't lived in that lifestyle but G Bush I I want your reaction to this because you're far closer and in tune with the culture than I am I don't know the NBA had an opportunity here to take a major stance against I don't even want to say gun crimes because I don't know that necessarily qualified as a crime where he was in possession and brandishing Again by the way didn't he allege that it was a fake gun yeah and the NBA said they

've had nothing to corroborate that well let's now let's let's go through that the matter I mean yeah yeah I'm gonna go out with my boys and I'm gonna in my waistband I'm gonna put a fake pistol no that's not it okay so we can all kind of pretty much just just dismiss that so that is what it is but gee we have Rising gun violence in every major city in the United States here in Cleveland carjackings with the use of a gun are up 85 percent violent crime with the use of a gun double digit increase

s and by the way we're talking about year over year where last year was a record and 2021 was a record and 2020 was a record it's going the wrong way we had yesterday a story on Channel 3 where Edwin's restaurant Edwin's is a very interesting concept the owner of the restaurant it's fine French cuisine the owner of the restaurant staffs the entire restaurant with former cons that's awesome he he's basically giving them a second chance at lights this model should be duplicated in every major city

in America and by the way you won't find a better meal five-star High cuisine what he does is he gives these conv convicts after they've been released a second chance he puts them through his culinary school he houses them he helps get them back on their feet he gives them high paying jobs where they can if they want to stay there and work there they can but if they want to go somewhere else they can do that too he yesterday announced a program in the city of Cleveland where he's going to buy b

ack guns for 250 irrespective of the condition or whatever he's doing it to get guns off the street now he hopes to get five sponsors corporate wide that will help him pay for these guns he expects to get as many as 100 to 250 weapons off the street I don't know what that number is going to be it might be far greater because we've been publicizing it quite a bit but the idea here is we have small people in our community that are trying to make a big difference in a gun violence crime that we can

't seem to solve we talk about doing things we do nothing the NRA is one of the biggest lobbying organizations in the United States we can't pass legislation because too many of our lawmakers are connected at the hip with the NRA so here the NBA has a chance to make a huge social statement and the NBA has said in the past we're about social statements we're about making our community better safer here is one of the faces of its League yeah committing a second gun infraction on tape for the whole

world to see and he gets less by a quarter almost easily well by a third almost more than a third then was given 14 years ago to Gilbert Arenas for bringing a gun to work so by the way Anthony got my Gilbert had already played 32 games that year so he missed 50. so we spend for the rest of the rest of the season the critical headline was a little misleading bad job out of me but I went and looked at the games yeah because I didn't remember it being the voice was suspended for the rest okay so t

hat's a testy game suspension I would have been okay with a 41 game suspension so in this case I actually think in the totality looking big picture 25 games is the perfect number you do I do he didn't break a law and we could look at him and say he shouldn't be brandishing a gun he's a role model we and he said this perfectly we talked about him last time for better or worse worse athletes or romance people look up to sometimes they don't choose it but that's the reality of the position of the p

ower they're in however you feel on guns pro-gun anti-gun I don't care it's not illegal for him to have a gun in a car he was with his friends he didn't shoot anybody he just was stupid and put it on camera and really his friend was Dumber for knowing hey you just got in trouble for having a gun I'm going to turn my Instagram live camera on you while you're holding like I wish she didn't have the gun I wish you didn't brandish it I wish he didn't show it I wish she never brought it on the airpla

ne and the first time or the strip club or wherever it was that he got in trouble with the gun and he has to be smarter with decisions and surrounding him with people who can kind of put a magnifying glass on some of the decisions he's made but he didn't break a law and how do you punish a guy for half a season without pay and take away fifteen sixteen million dollars got two-thirds of a season and I'd break the law and I still don't know how there were no guns involved I know but I don't know h

ow I feel about that suspension without any actual tangible proof that he did well you can say this if if we're gonna ask was the NFL too harsh too lenient or just right on Desean Watson I think most people would say too harsh yeah I agree if you ask those same fans was the NBA too harsh too lenient or just right now I know you say just right and I respect your opinion but I think if you and I agree I think the vast majority would come down on two leaning and real quick and just the last point o

n why it's right so he misses 25 games so if he plays a hundred games or 100 of the games that he's eligible to play that's 57 yeah based on the new CBA he's not eligible for first second or third Team all NBA which is where he cares about that that's money now that's extra money no I'm just saying but that's part of why like you could have said a little more a little less this completely negates him from getting any of the extra incentive bones yeah that's that means and all that so that's extr

a money that he could have made this year that now he's just completely ineligible John Moran doesn't need extra money I agree but I'm just saying that's another downside of him missing that gee boys here's my question to you okay what message is sent to the young fan base of the NBA about John Morant flashing guns and what happens to you if you do it because before you answer that I'll give you a quick example there's a young man who goes to Orange High School in our area I believe it was orang

e who was arrested because they found a bullet in the school and it ended up being his and they traced it back to him then they went to his car and found a gun in his car he's facing major charges yeah he's was obviously expelled from school he's not John Moran he doesn't have the protection of being a superstar he doesn't have all the money in the world to afford any legal defense he wants he's facing serious jail time and we have John Morant who the Optics of it are horrible what is that sayin

g to the young fan base of the NBA what are 13 and 14 year old young NBA fans saying this morning about John Moran so I go back to two things and I'll give you my my personal experience my my mother and father I've been married for 41 years um their their Christians they don't we we weren't watching certain things as a matter of fact I used to think it was crazy because we couldn't even have Super Soakers we couldn't have any water pistols we couldn't really no for real they're serious like we w

ouldn't it was a form of a gun you wouldn't allowed touching no guns right so where I come from is a household where we never I never I grew up in a household where I never needed like I never saw a a place or an environment where I needed a gun some people come from places of environments we do we talk take a look at all of our Our Heroes we take a look at Nipsey hustle we'll take a look at um you know Jam Master Jay we take a look at Tupac we're looking biggie we look at all these young artist

s we just we just saw uh Migos uh offset for the Amigos like all all of our rappers right our rappers are our civil rights leaders Malcolm X Martin Luther King um all of our people are gunned down they're shot so when you grow up as a black person in this country some people in the hood always say it's better I got it on me than not a woman because I'd rather be Tried by I rather be Tried by what 12 to carry by six meaning that I've heard that before so if you ain't got it on you what you doing

and at the point where they don't understand John Morant doesn't understand like in the city of Cleveland or city of Memphis young Dolph just got killed young Dolph just got killed outside of a place where he just was getting cookies three gunmen came and shot him right when you were living in the city of Memphis and you look like them you act like them and you are around certain people the reality of this situation is sometimes if you're around certain people you need a gun well there are other

players in Memphis that don't need guns so here we don't care now here so here's what is it the circle he's in it's so forces him to carry so if you've got to Circle people around you and no sugar individual people are in the streets technically you're in the streets you're with them you because even if you don't do the same things they do you ain't at the same places at the same time you got to understand you with them and on top of that you are a Target big time you you are you are the you ar

e the U.S Bank you are Huntington National Bank yeah Greg Newsome on the show this week say he felt in these carjackings where he would help he wasn't held at gunpoint but they targeted him because of who he was sure absolutely and that's great news and John Moran has a lot more money than Greg news but I want to get yeah he does I want to get to the Crux of this situation your question is what does this say I've said on this show before in America we have a problem with guns across the bow we h

ave a problem with our infatuation of guns to me I look at it as a symptom John Moran is a symptom John Moran is is a symptom of the problem of how we we put these guns on pedestals we've put the guns before people then you got you tell people well you know we can't stop school shootings I remember the first Jay you remember this when when Columbine happened right the world stopped it was it was appalling we couldn't believe it could not now they're common it's every 30 seconds and we go right o

n to our next thing yeah 30 seconds oh oh and on to the NBA finals because it's happening that that's how rampant has become and I must say this John Morant he he got the 25 games we don't know what's going to go in Behind Closed scenes but one thing that I will say is if you got your NBA players if you got people in schools that kids are scared to go to school because they they think they're going to die like their friends and you got people that can help this you got people that can stop it th

at are taking pictures with AR-15s and as Christmas pictures that's Christmas pictures they are take your the people who are standing up saying thoughts and prayers are in the Christmas pictures with their kids one through five with the guns you got guys in office doing that preach what type of stuff is this man what type and they do it and they think it's funny I don't care if you're a Democrat Republican liberal or whatever you call yourself you know we have a problem in this country that's th

e thing the equivalent of knowing that we have a fentanyl problem in this country and you taking a needle and acting like you shooting up sure yeah what that's disrespectful man and then people do that for clout and it trickles down and then John Moran says well if they did it I think it'd be good for me I want to be clear too I I am not uh at the root of this discussion John Morant is a young man who needs some guidance yes right now yep the lifestyle he's living is the lifestyle he now chooses

to live here you don't have to use that you don't have to do that there's a famous line in the movie Good Will Hunting I don't know if you guys have seen it but there's one of the most moving scenes in the movie was when Ben Affleck was talking to with Matt Damon Matt Damon had these unbelievable mathematical genius Powers but he didn't want to use them because he wanted to stay in the hood in South Boston and live that life and Ben Affleck was having a conversation with them outside their cons

truction job they were having a smoke break and he said let me tell you something because Matt's Matt Damon's character basically says Good Will Hunting will says hey you know 20 years from now I picture us running around the backyard with our kids taking them to Little League games and Ben Affleck stops for a second he says wait a minute wait a minute if you're still here 20 years from now I'm gonna whip your ass yeah and I was like what are you talking about he said bro you're sitting on a win

ning lottery ticket you've hit life's Lottery if you stay here that's an insult to me because I would give everything I own and years off my life to have what you have it's a gift and if you waste it by hanging out with us thugs I'm gonna kill you yeah and the message in that kind of applies here yep he needs someone in his crew that loves him not for his money but for who he is to tell him John you're gonna piss all of this away bro you're going to piss all of this away you've been given a gift

and it's fleeting in Matt's case he would still have his mathematical genius Powers at 60. John Moran won't be able to jump shoot and run at 40. there's a limited window and someone needs to get to this young man and tell him turn your life around you don't need us anymore get the hell out of here we don't want to see you again except for on Christmas cards and family gatherings take your guns get rid of them live the life that God has intended you to live he gave you a gift don't screw it up a

nd that's what he needs and Lil Wayne and Jalen Rose and other people that have been in that situation who have taken their gifts and capitalized on them and used them to not just better themselves but to better Society they're trying to get through to him Lil Wayne shot herself Lil Wayne yes he did shot herself and flatlined yeah and the the cop and should have died and should have died in the cop a white cop by the way we shouldn't have to deliberate that but in the hood they told Lil Wayne he

's gone yeah he's out of here the cop said no he grabbed him put him in his car drove him to the hospital and he says without that cop he's dead he's dead so he has a story for him to listen to right and Lil Wayne after a while even Little Wayne went through a situation where he had a gun and he had to go to Rikers after that after this after this so for a whole year at the title of his career had to go to Rikers so sometimes it's just one of them things where somebody could tell you sometimes y

ou got to sit down right something like you're gonna have to sit down for you to get that that's a powerful story and so this this is what I'm saying I'm not saying he needs 41 games because I don't like John Moran I love John Moran I think John Moran is a generational Talent yeah I think John Morant could be a top three player in this league for the next 10 years the only thing that stands in the way from that and what could become a tragedy is John Moran what road do you want to travel you're

at a fork you can go left or you can go right but this is life-changing this is a very big moment and here's why I'm disappointed in the league he hasn't reached that point by being punished once already he hasn't reached that point a lot of people that have been through any kind of turmoil like this that either need an interdiction or they need some sort of a reckoning oftentimes it's called Rock Bottom what is Rock Bottom going to be one of his boys gets shot and killed maybe he shoots and kil

ls someone maybe he gets shot and killed we don't want it to come to that the league had an opportunity to be your parents and to say to John Morant we love you so much we're going to give you tough love I I think the difference between the NFL and the NBA is the NBA has less control over the players the players absolutely the NFL right and and it's it's difficult to suspend a guy where you have LeBron James saying oh we ain't gonna see LeBron or or whoever whoever is there Chris Paul or these a

re the players the players see the equivalent of your siblings lobbying to your parents about how they're going to discipline you at the end of the day it is the National Basketball Association and that logo that Shield is bigger than all of the players collectively because that's the shield that's represented the players for over 50. I will agree with that in the NFL side the NBA side it is it's not like your parents it's like they are uh they're friends like you ever see somebody's you ever se

e somebody's uh kids and they act like they're their friends they call them Nancy I'm not going to my room Nancy no I can't stand it I can't stand like like they're equals so when you when you have this I guarantee they probably had to go and fight for that you're probably right and look there's probably things that I don't know about that go on behind the scenes I'll wrap it up by saying this here's my absolute bottom line hope my hope is John Morant gets the message loud and clear and he reali

zes I can't keep this lifestyle going I'm making 35 million a year what's what's what was the last year's salary what was the salary 40 million just signed the giant extension I know it's got all the money in the world money is no longer an issue he doesn't need to be out in the streets he doesn't need to hustle he doesn't need to hang with guys that are carrying guns he doesn't need that lifestyle you don't see LeBron doing it he he needs to he needs I I'll give him my final say on it like I to

ld you know Greg Newsom at the end of the day a lot of people don't be one security because they want to say I could go to anywhere without security a lot of people don't I got it on me I'm cool I got my people with me no no it's a different age out here inflation is crazy people ain't got no money you're a Target bro if you want to go someplace hire you some Professional Security how are you and be careful the places you go and you got to watch where you go but anywhere you go as you get older

he's a Target you are a Target 250 million I get you some people yeah what I hope we that I hope future headlines of John Morant read like this John Morant a force in his community John Morant gives back to his community by helping youth avoid pitfalls in the future John Morant wins NBA championship John Morant NBA MVP I hope they look like that and not what I told you before John Moran involved in tragic shooting it can happen John Morant found in possession of illegal guns looking at five to s

even years in prison I don't want that and I think the league had a chance to be the parent here and to send a loud and clear message that you can't have both Lifestyles he can't he can't have the street lifestyle and he can't have the NBA lifestyle it's time for him to choose and you said something very prophetic earlier players whether they choose to be Role Models or not let me tell you something when I I love Charles Barkley both personally and his his public Persona he said he's not a role

model he said he is but just because you say you're not a role model doesn't mean you're not role models are tapped on the shoulder Society decides who a role model is and whether John Morant likes it or not there are tens of thousands of 13 year old boys in this country that look to John Morant as what they want to become he is a role model whether he wants to be or not that's a cop-out I've always thought that was a cop-out by Charles Barkley he is a role model but that's a responsibility that

comes with a 50 million dollar paycheck in the NBA it comes with it but yeah but I just think it's unfair to hold everyone to a certain standard I don't every person is their own You Know Your Role Model I know and I I hope you conduct yourself as such I you always have I mean I I try to right and I'm sure John like and why don't we have to move on in a sec but the whole thing which uh at the end of the day is I hope we all hope you said that you said it that hopefully this 25 game suspension w

hatever program he goes message received message received puts him back on the track the eight game suspension for the first time obviously did not ring home it did not it wasn't enough 25 games I don't know what the financial stipulate is not getting paid so that he's making 40 something million this year 25 so it's at least 15 million dollars plus you won't miss it I understand DNA day 15 million dollars still 15 million dollars so I hope I hope this puts him back on the right track I hope he

takes a a I do too much and he's he's a new father his daughter I know is one and a half two she was part of his shoe release commercial he's a role model for her and for if nothing else that that's what I hope he gets it can happen I know a guy you know a guy Murray's Claret absolutely come on now come on he was in the back we had the automatic rifles I know a lot of people have reached out to John I get that I understand that but just remember this Maurice Claret is a freshman almost won the H

eisman Trophy yeah after he won the national championship he never played another down in college or he never played a single snap in the NFL you're right though you never did I didn't realize when we saw him on the field against Miami holding up the national trophy that's a lesson that was the last now he did play in the Canadian football he played awfully yeah that's not that's not what he was bred to do he was meant from birth to be a football star a dominant football star and he derailed his

career and if and I'm not saying this because I've been friends with Maurice for 15 years I'm not of the role models that I know of the people that I know that I think John Morant can be most helped from right up there Maurice Claret is the guy and if you talk the guy and if you say this to Maurice correct then they will put a bow on it sometimes you learn by learning from other people sometimes you learn by you getting in trouble sometimes you learn um by sitting here and watching other casts

and sometimes you learn by paying the ultimate price Maurice Claret says all the time going to sit in jail for two three years saved my life yeah he says it all the time sitting down for two three years making me think about what I was doing and how I'm more than just a football player and how because what happens is when you're in that jail cell and you'll be away from your girl you away from your mom you get a real you get a lot of time to think about what the heck you doing in your life and g

uess what we hope John Moran gets it for at least 25 because I I don't want you to pay the the 25 I don't either I don't want to fight a lot pay any other price there you go then missed games and what this what scares me about this is if we picked up a paper tomorrow and see John Moran arrested for gun use or John Morant um wanted in questioning for a shooting or John Morant associate gunned down and killed are any of us going to look at them and say oh my God I can't believe it this is stunning

news no why that's the trajectory he's on Maurice Claret has done something that's I think it's the hardest thing in the world to do he's written a successful second chapter without leaning on the success of his first chapter yeah he leaned on his failure and for someone to become a millionaire post-prison post-career collapse and do it the way he's done it you do that through hard work and through you know a lot of personal inspection and going through those things I hope to God that John gets

the help he wants here's the problem if you asked John Morant will you talk to Maurice Claret you might as well ask him will you talk to Hopalong Cassidy was a football star 20 years ago in another life Zhao was born in 2000. the Buckeyes won the National Championship in 2001. so jealous three years younger than me John Morant was one year old when Maurice Claret was last relevant he was born in 99 in my bed okay so he was he was two years old when Maurice Clarett was uh commodity in in sports