Ja Morant took the stand for cross-examination on Monday for a civil lawsuit filed against him for punching 17-year-old Joshua Holloway during a pickup game, which Morant says was self-defence.
But it wasn’t long before court proceedings took a bizarre turn.
With Morant claiming the physical altercation stemmed from Holloway disrespectfully setting the ball at his feet instead of checking the ball properly, one of Morant’s lawyers brought a basketball to the front of the courtroom where he and Morant demonstrated how to properly check the ball.
These folks got Ja hosting the Ja Morant Skills Camp in the court room 😂 pic.twitter.com/hNqxuG1mBr
— myke (@NBAMyke) December 11, 2023
Morant says things escalated to the point of Holloway throwing the ball into his face. From there, he claims he confronted Holloway, who pulled up his pants and took a step towards him, which Morant interpreted as the young man squaring up to fight.
“Him pulling up his shorts, where I’m from, that’s a fighting stance,” Morant said.
Morant then punched Holloway, knocked him to the ground, and punched him several more times. After the altercation, the Grizzlies guard allegedly went into his house and came out with a gun tucked into his waistband, according to the Washington Post.
Back in the present day, there were additional eyebrow-raising moments in the courtroom, the least of which featured Holloway’s lawyer Rebecca Adelman firing a chest pass at one of Morant’s lawyers.
At one point, Adelman showed a series of clips of Morant throwing down powerful dunks to demonstrate the kind of force that was directed at Halloway during the physical confrontation. She also showed a photo of Morant jumping over Kevin Love.
Things also got testy between Adelman and Morant when she grilled him on whether he believed her client had used a basketball as a “lethal weapon”. Adelman even asked Morant to punch her.
“Show me how you punched him,” she said.
The hearing will resume on Tuesday. Morant is expected to return to the court next week.
