Lawsuit Accusing Ja Morant of Punching Teen During Pickup Game Dismissed

The Memphis Grizzlies star was ruled to have acted in self-defense during the 2022 incident.

Morant reacts during a Grizzlies game against the Mavericks. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

A lawsuit accusing Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant of punching a teenager during a pickup basketball game has been dismissed by a judge in Tennessee.

The suit stems from a July 2022 incident in which a group of teenagers were invited to play pickup basketball at Morant's parents' home in Memphis. During the game, Joshua Holloway—then age 17—is said to have "aggressively threw [a] basketball at [Morant] with a one-handed, baseball-style pass that hit him in the face." Morant allegedly retaliated by punching Holloway in the face.

Morant testified during a December '23 hearing that he was "worried about getting hurt" after Holloway "hit him in the face with the ball, bumped him in the chest, balled his fists, and got into a fighting stance."

Shelby County Circuit Judge Carol Chumney ruled on Monday that Morant acted in self-defense, meaning he was immune from civil liability, while also saying that Holloway's testimony, "was not credible and contradicts testimony from other witnesses."

Morant and the Grizzlies are currently down 0-2 in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

---

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed