Plaxico Burress Offers Advice to Ja Morant

The former NFL wide receiver had a deeply personal message for the Grizzlies star amid a recent string of controversies off the court.

Ja Morant has been at the center of controversy this week after appearing to brandish a firearm in a nightclub in an Instagram Live early Saturday morning, prompting numerous figures around the sports world to weigh in on the recent actions of the Grizzlies star. The latest to do so was Plaxico Burress, who offered up his own history as a cautionary tale for Morant. 

Appearing on The Carton Show Tuesday, the former NFL wide receiver was asked what advice he would give to the 23-year-old superstar, who said he would take some time away from the Grizzlies after posting the video on Instagram. Burress got personal in his response, explaining that he hoped Morant could learn something from his own incident with a gun that temporarily halted his NFL career.

“I would just tell him, if you can’t learn anything, learn from me,” Burress said. “Just make better decisions because you really don’t want for him to have that label moving forward being that he’s so young. He has the opportunity to be the face of the NBA. He’s that great of a player.

“You want to continue to see him mature as a person as his game is getting better. I think that all just comes with time and, you know, being around the right people.”

Herring: We All Want Ja Morant to Grow

Burress, the No. 8 pick in the 2000 NFL draft, found himself mired in controversy less than a year after he caught the game-winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl XLII when he accidentally shot himself in the leg while out at a nightclub in New York City in ’08. Though he wasn’t seriously injured, Burress spent two years in prison on gun-related charges and was never able to replicate his previous success on the football field despite returning to the league in ’11.

Morant’s controversial Instagram Live prompted the Grizzlies to announce that the two-time All-Star would be away from the team for at least two games, but Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins did not reveal an exact timeline for the point guard’s return. Morant is also reportedly at the center of an NBA investigation and an investigation led by police in Glendale, Colo. who are looking into whether or not the 23-year-old broke any state gun laws.

The investigations into Morant come after The Washington Post reported last Wednesday that the point guard allegedly punched a 17-year-old in the head during a pickup basketball game last summer and later returned to the court with his hand on a gun in his waistband, per the report. That incident took place four days after a Memphis mall security guard filed a police report saying that Morant threatened him and one of the point guard’s associates pushed him. No arrests were made from either incident.