Shannon Sharpe urged Ja Morant to “move differently” as accusations of bad behavior continue to mount around the Grizzlies’ star point guard.
Sharpe shared stern advice for Morant on his FS1 show “Undisputed” on Thursday, a day after the Washington Post acquired police reports detailing incidents four days apart in the summer of 2022.
First, he was accused of “threatening behavior” toward a mall security guard in a parking lot altercation.
Days later, Morant allegedly hit a teen at his home — for which he is currently being sued — and purportedly brandished a gun in the boy’s presence.
“I’ve said it before, Ja, you’re going to have to move differently,” Sharpe, who was involved in an on-court altercation with members of Morant’s entourage on Jan. 20, said. “You’re in a different stratosphere now. I just think he needs to conduct himself as a person that’s in that same stratosphere.
“He portrays that he is like something that he is not … He’s hustling backwards … Ja, just move differently, bruh…
“I would never give you any advice on how to play basketball, but I would try to give you some advice on how to move,” Sharpe continued. “Let somebody else’s lesson be your lesson … Ja there are a lot of lessons out there for you to learn without having to learn that same lesson through your own hardship, that’s all I would say to him.”
The Hall of Fame tight end — a three-time Super Bowl winner who played 15 NFL seasons from 1990-2003 — explained that he had to move differently when his NFL career took off.
Sharpe then mentioned Morant’s five-year rookie maximum extension with the Grizzlies, worth up to $231 million that he signed in 2022 — as well as endorsement deals with Nike and Powerade.
Morant was announced as the new face of Powerade Wednesday, hours before the Washington Post report surfaced.
That came after the two-time All-Star debuted his first signature shoe with Nike on Christmas Day.
Sharpe, who noted that the complaint has been sealed, said he’s waiting for more information before speaking further on Morant’s legal matters.
It’s not the first time Sharpe has weighed in on Morant’s troubling actions.
Last month, Sharpe said he believed Morant was “putting himself in harms way” following an incident after the Grizzlies-Pacers game on Jan. 29.
At the time, the NBA investigated allegations by the Pacers that Morant’s entourage “aggressively confronted” members of their traveling party and pointed a red laser at them, possibly attached to a gun.
Morant later confirmed that his friend, Davante Pack, was banned from Memphis’ FedExForum following the laser incident.
“I wish Ja would realize he’s not a thug,” Sharpe said on “Undisputed” at the time. “Ja is a really good basketball player. Ja did everything he could to lift himself and his family out of this environment and to get away from this.
“And for some reason, he wants to surround himself with these types of people. Why? Bruh, you not hard. That’s not your life.
“People that [are] in that life would give anything to be in your life.”
“For some reason, you got a $200 million contract, and you want people in the NBA to think you hood,” Sharpe continued. “To think you gangster because you roll with these types of people. Bruh, you putting yourself in harm’s way when you don’t have to!”
That came after Sharpe was involved in an altercation with the Grizzlies star’s father, Tee Morant, at halftime of a game against the Lakers on Jan. 20.
The two spoke later on at the game and squashed the animosity, and Sharpe issued an apology on “Undisputed.”