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INDIANAPOLIS – Members of the Indiana Pacers’ travel party were “aggressively confronted” by acquaintances of Grizzlies star Ja Morant after the teams’ game in Memphis on Jan. 29, according to a report by The Athletic on Sunday.
According to the report, someone in a slow-moving SUV that Morant was riding in trained a red laser on members of the party near the team’s bus in the loading area of FedEx Forum, and a Pacers security guard believed the laser was attached to a gun.
According to the report, the Pacers alerted the NBA. A league spokesman confirmed to IndyStar that the league had performed an investigation.
“NBA Security and league investigators conducted an investigation interviewing numerous eyewitnesses and reviewing video surveillance following allegations made by the Indiana Pacers organization regarding a postgame incident on Jan. 29,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said via email.
“While we substantiated that a postgame situation arose that was confrontational, based on interviews and other evidence gathered, we could not corroborate that any individual threatened others with a weapon. Certain individuals involved in the postgame situation and a related matter during the game that night have been subsequently banned from attending games in the arena. If additional information becomes available related to the postgame situation, the league office will conduct a further review.”
The Pacers declined comment to IndyStar about the incident before Sunday’s game against the Cavaliers.
“We felt we were in grave danger,” one person who was present said to The Athletic. The sources requested anonymity because they fear retribution, according to The Athletic.
DaMichael Cole, the Grizzlies beatwriter for The Commercial-Appeal in Memphis, reported that Morant and the Pacers’ Andrew Nembhard has a confrontation during the Feb. 29 game with the Pacers’ James Johnson also getting involved. Davonte Pack, a friend of Morant’s was escorted off the floor.
