Ja Morant Has Officially Beat His "Punched a Teenager During a Pickup Game" Lawsuit

CBS Sports - A judge in Memphis, Tennessee, dismissed a civil lawsuit against Memphis Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant on Monday, according to The Associated Press. The lawsuit stems from an altercation that took place at Morant's house in July 2022 in which Joshua Holloway, who was 17 at the time, claimed that Morant punched him during a game of pickup basketball.

Holloway was at Morant's house playing pickup basketball when the teenager checked the ball and, as it slipped through Morant's hands, hit the Grizzlies star on the chin. Holloway alleged that Morant and his friend Davonte Pack repeatedly hit Holloway even after he had fallen to the ground. Pack was arrested for misdemeanor assault for the incident, but the charge was later dismissed.

The thing about Ja Morant is that he's always doing so much gun stuff (flashing gun on Instagram live, flashing gun on Instagram live again, shooting fake gun at opponents after a basket, throwing fake grenade at his own fans after a basket, probably something else I'm forgetting, etc.), that you forget he also punched a teenager once. Smack dab in the middle of a pickup basketball game. Right in his own backyard. Some high school kid checked him the basketball too hard and BLAMMO!, he got a Ja Morant fist to the jaw. There was a whole ass trial about it. The lawyer brought a basketball and everything. 

Apparently the basketball defense worked. Because following that trial, just over a year ago, a judged ruled that Ja Morant was acting in self-defense. The punchee continued pursing legal action in the form of a civil suit. But on Monday, a judge threw that out too, ruling that Ja Morant is immune from civil liability as well.

As a man who aspires to fall ass backwards into a money someday, to see a young man punched in the jaw by a multi-multi-millionaire athlete during a pickup basketball game and come up empty handed... I can't help but feel a little bad. The second you get punched by Ja Morant, you gotta be thinking dollar signs. It really is quite the bag fumble to come out of that situation with nothing at all. It doesn't even have to be much. I doesn't even have to be through the courts. At minimum he should have at least been able to score an envelope of "just go away" cash from Ja. But considering three years later they were still dealing with the courts, it sure looks like he netted $0 from the whole ordeal. You gotta think if he had played his cards differently, he'd have at least walked away with something.

But Josh Holloway (the kid who was punched) will be fine. He's playing college basketball now. Last season, playing for Samford, he was the SoCon Sixth Man of The Year. Made the All-Defensive Team as well. Just a few days ago, he announced that he's transferring to Texas A&M.

Maybe being punched by Ja Morant builds character. Maybe it helped toughen him up to become SoCon All-Defensive Team player he is today. Seeing that Josh Holloway made an all-defense team actually kinda checks out. If you're the type of guy who's able to get under Ja Morant's skin at a pickup game to the point of him attacking you, I'd imagine you're probably annoying as fuck on defense. I mean that as a compliment. 

Ja Morant is kinda like the NBA's wannabe gangster version of Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake every time he leaves his house. Except on the end of the rake is a gun that winds up on Ja Morant's person at an inconvenient time. I guess that specific thing only happened twice… But he's always getting into gun/weapon related trouble. Or punching teenagers. Or getting injured. He's so fucking good at basketball too. He might be my favorite player to watch in the entire league. He's just gotta stay out of his own way. But the NBA should really meet him halfway and let him do the gun celebrations. Just as a treat. If they cut him off guns cold turkey, he's going to relapse and end up on Instagram live again. Then the NBA will lose one of their most exciting players. But if you let him fire some imaginary artillery into his opponents bench, then Ja Morant gets his gun fix, and he stays out of any real trouble. It's a win-win for everybody. Except maybe the impressionable kids. But as Michael Jordan once said…

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