Gilbert Arenas Offers Heartfelt Advice for Ja Morant

Gilbert Arenas delivered some advice for Grizzlies star Ja Morant during an appearance this week on JJ Redick’s podcast, The Old Man and the Three.

Morant is currently suspended from Memphis after a second incident of him flashing a handgun on Instagram Live. Many have used Arenas as a cautionary tale for Morant given the former Wizards star’s gun incidents that caused him to miss most of the 2009–10 NBA season. Given the current circumstances, Redick used the opportunity to ask Arenas what his message would be to Morant.

“The advice is understand your surroundings. Put people around you who have the same interest, and that same interest is protecting your brand,” Arenas said. “You need people around you that [are] willing to tell you no. … You need people around you that [are] willing to be your conscience.”

Here’s Arenas’s whole response:

Arenas did preface his comments by saying he didn’t expect Morant to take the advice, since Morant is just 23 years old and “on top of the world.” Still, if there’s anyone who understands the predicament Morant is currently in, it’s Arenas, who faced trouble for storing guns in his locker and eventually for drawing a gun on fellow NBA player Javaris Crittenton, eventually derailing his career.

“LeBron, the same guys that are around him now and the same guys that was there then,” Arenas said. “They understood the role, they understood the vision, they understood the finish line. [Morant] needs to find people around him that understand the same thing.”