Ja Morant Reacts After His NBA Return Cut Short for Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery: ‘Damn Dawg’

The Memphis Grizzlies star recently returned to the team after a 25-game suspension to start the season

Ja Morant’s comeback story was unexpectedly cut short on Monday when the Memphis Grizzlies announced its star player would have season-ending shoulder surgery.

Morant, 24, had just returned to the team last month after a 25-game suspension for repeatedly posting videos of himself holding a gun on social media last year.

The team’s leading scorer reportedly injured his shoulder in practice on Saturday, according to ESPN. He missed Sunday's game against the Phoenix Suns, appearing on the sideline with his right shoulder in a sling. An MRI revealed an underlying labral tear in the shoulder, the outlet reported.

“Damn dawg,” Morant tweeted late Monday night, an apparent response to the news that his season was over less than 10 games after it began. Earlier in the evening, he had tweeted a blue heart emoji in what was likely his first response to the news.

Morant appeared in nine games for the Grizzlies and immediately made an impact, hitting a game-winning buzzer beater against the New Orleans Pelicans in his return on Dec. 20. The last-second shot provided one of the most dramatic moments in the NBA so far this season, capping off a 34-point game for the returning Morant.

The Grizzlies appeared to turn things around with their best player back on the floor, winning seven of their last 11 games since he returned from his lengthy suspension. Memphis had a 6-19 record without Morant to start the season, winning more games in the last month with him on the floor than it did in the two months without him.

Now, Memphis is back to square one with Morant once again on the sidelines.

Related: Ja Morant Makes First Statement Since Flashing Gun on Social Media: 'I've Disappointed a Lot of People'

The two-time NBA All-Star was suspended over the summer after twice flashing a firearm during separate Instagram Live videos early last year.

Morant initially entered a counseling program in Florida last March after the first incident, when he flashed a handgun on Instagram Live while partying at a Colorado strip club. The NBA star apologized afterwards and vowed to “to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”

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But two months later, Morant was caught flashing a firearm during another Instagram Live session – this time on friend Davonte Pack's account, ESPN reported at the time. The video has since been deleted, but reportedly showed Morant flashing a gun while driving and singing.

Related: Memphis Grizzlies Star Ja Morant Reportedly Enters Counseling Program in Florida

The second incident elicited a stern response from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who said he was “shocked” by the incident after having spoken to Morant at length about "how incredibly serious the first incident was of waving a firearm on social media" after the first time it happened.

"An eight-game suspension was pretty serious and something that he, at least to me, seemed to take incredibly seriously in that time," Silver said at the time. "And we spoke for a long time about not just the consequences that could have on his career, but the safety issues around it. [Morant] could've injured, maimed, killed himself, someone else with an act like that."

The back-to-back incidents also came shortly after The Washington Post published a story detailing two other off-the-court incidents involving Morant. In those instances, Morant was accused of threatening a security officer at a Memphis mall and also of punching a teenage boy during a pickup basketball game at his house.

"I know I've disappointed a lot of people who have supported me," Morant said in a statement to ESPN last summer, after receiving the suspension that caused him to miss 25 games at the start of this season. "This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I'm committed to continuing to work on myself."

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