Ja Morant has been prudent about his social media activities ever since his infamous gun incident on Instagram Live two years ago. But that does not mean he will hold himself back and listen to somebody call him out for doing something he did not do. Let me explain.
In 2022, ESPN announced an all-access segment with the Grizzlies, months before Morant’s infamous gun incident. Now, years after the incident, Kendrick Perkins called out Morant for making him look bad due to his involvement in the incident.
Morant took Perkins’ comments personally and took to social media and called him out after the former NBA champion took credit for Morant and the Grizzlies getting national television attention due to him.
“You’re the reason for my notoriety, Perk? Come on, dawg. 😂 You’re showing them why I don’t f**k with your kind,” wrote Morant on X.
Perkins appeared on the ‘Out the Mud’ podcast with Tony Allen, the former Grizzlies veteran, and spoke about his beef with Ja Morant. He claimed that he and Morant don’t “f**k with” each other anymore.
“I was cool with Ja at one point, but then when Ja started getting into trouble with some of his off-court activities and stuff like that, I had to speak up. Ja, don’t really f**k with me no more on that sh**. But to be honest, in that type of situation, I don’t f**k with Ja,” said Perkins.
“And you know why I don’t f**k, I f**k with his daddy, but I don’t f**k with Ja. You know why I don’t f**k with Ja? Cuz it’s like, bro, the reason I’m so mad at you is because ESPN packed up for a week and went down [to Memphis].”
“Listen, y’all had the city rocking. ESPN ain’t never packed up and went down there, spent millions of dollars to go do an all-access on y’all in Memphis. They did that for Ja.”
“I was the one who was praising Ja. I was the one.. Hey, man, I came out and said, ‘Hey, look, we could redo that draft. Ja should have gone number one and not Zion.’ All of a sudden, Disney business bosses are hearing me out.”
“We do an all-access, bro. We’re down in Memphis shining light on you. ESPN doesn’t ever do that sh** for sure. We know you are the next chosen one. And you f**k up.”
“Guess what? Not only does that make you look bad, it makes me look bad cuz they recognized you because of me speaking highly of you. It ain’t no coincidence that you went from having three games on ESPN national television, that you had 52.”
Tony Allen did point out that while Perkins was one of the biggest advocates for the Grizzlies to get recognition on national television, Morant was deemed must-see TV, irrespective of whether or not Perkins advocated for them.
In 2022, when ESPN announced its decision to do an all-access on the Grizzlies, Morant was taking the All-Star leap in his third NBA season. He had just gone from averaging 19.1 points per game in 2020-21 to 27.4 points per game in the 2021-22 season. It was a matter of time before Morant got more national television attention because of his own skills instead of needing Perkins to advocate for him.
In my opinion, the media does play a crucial role in providing stars with a platform. But they cannot take credit for it to the extent that it would not have happened without them.
