The past year or so has been pretty rocky for Memphis Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant. While he dealt with several off-court incidents that yielded him a 25-game suspension to start the 2023-24 campaign, he eventually took the court for the Grizzlies, but only ended up playing in nine games before he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.

One of Morant's off-court issues involved an incident in which he punched a teenager in the face over a game of pick-up basketball. The teenager sued Morant over the dispute, but for once, something went right for the talented Grizzlies star, as a Tennessee judge ruled in favor of Morant, saying that he acted in self defense.

“In a win for Ja Morant, a Tennessee judge ruled Monday that the Memphis Grizzlies superstar fairly acted in self-defense when he punched a teenager at Morant's home in July 2022, according to a court filing obtained by ESPN. The ruling comes after a December 2023 civil immunity hearing in Memphis, where Morant testified that he “swung first” at Joshua Holloway, then 17, “to protect myself” during an altercation that led to Holloway filing a September 2022 lawsuit accusing Morant of assault.” – Baxter Holmes, ESPN

Ja Morant avoids legal trouble over incident involving teenager

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant takes the court before a game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.
Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

While playing a game of pick-up basketball, a teenager who wasn't on Morant's team was irritated with continually losing, and ended up throwing the ball at Morant, hitting him in the face. Morant and his friends quickly retaliated by throwing punches, and it led to this lawsuit getting filed.

The argument was that Morant was in the wrong to punch the teenager in the first place, and given all the other incidents he found himself in around the same time, it wasn't exactly a good look for him. However, the judge decided that the teenager provoked Morant into throwing a punch, meaning the Grizzlies star will now have one less off-court issue to worry with moving forward.

Heading into the offseason, Morant's focus is going to be on finding a way to keep himself healthy and out of trouble off the court so that he can stay on the court for the Grizzlies. While they have dealt with tons of other injuries this year, they have struggled to replace Morant as the leader of their offense, which has resulted in them crawling to a 27-51 record.

Morant is crucial to what the Grizzlies do on offense, and this season proved that they simply aren't the same team without him on the floor. Thankfully, one of his off-field issues has been cleared up here, meaning that he will have less distracting him over a crucial offseason of work. Morant isn't out of the woods yet, but this is a positive development after a year full of bad news.