Ja Morant found himself in a downward spiral after displaying a gun during an IG Live session a while ago. Since then, the Memphis Grizzlies‘ star has missed five games due to disciplinary actions taken against him and is currently under league investigation. The gun controversy gained massive attention from NBA fans who gave conflicting reactions on the matter. Similarly, a Chicago Bulls star has now chimed in with a unique opinion of his own.

It has been over a week since the incident took place following which the Grizzlies’ management were quick to announce the suspension of their superstar player. Shortly after that, Morant issued a statement where he took complete responsibility for his actions and shared his plans of taking the time off to work ‘on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being’. Meanwhile, a controversial ex-Clippers guard has tried to explain Morant’s conduct by siphoning the blame to ‘this culture’.

NBA star blames ‘this culture’ while decoding the Ja Morant controversy

Days after Ja Morant released his statement, Chicago Bulls point guard Patrick Beverley dived into the trending discussion during a recent appearance on the Barstool Sports podcast. In the episode, the host Dave Portnoy asked Pat Bev if Morant was pretending to be someone he was not. In response, the former Los Angeles Lakers star had quite an interesting answer to share with the viewers. He explained how Morant’s past misconducts is a direct reflection of the predominant culture in the country right now.

Beverley explained that people are heavily influenced by the type of music they listen to. He said, “I think music has a lot to do with this now. You know, especially with this culture. Everyone holding a gun in the video is okay. You know, bling on your teeth is okay. Pants half down your a**, that’s okay.”

Beverley further added, “It’s just a product of what we listen to. The culture now is ‘shoot them up, bang, bang, shoot them up, bend you over, I got this amount of money, I’m on private jets, that that that.’ That’s what the younger generation is. Sadly to say it shouldn’t be based on our music, but it is mostly based on what we listen to and that’s how it is.”

The 34-year-old basketball star inferred that every generation is a product of the music popular in their time. So Morant’s antics is largely a result of a young, impressionable mind being swayed by vile lyrics.

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While Beverley’s statement mostly blamed the music for Morant’s ‘mishap’, NBA legends like Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and others have called out the young superstar to take responsibility for his actions. According to them, as a public figure, he should be more responsible of his influence on young fans.

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