Grizzlies' Desmond Bane Does Deliberate Gun Celebration At 76ers' Caleb Martin; NBA Fans Make Ja Morant Jokes

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Teammates follow their leader, and for the Memphis Grizzlies, their leader is Ja Morant. When it comes to on-court performance, he's an unbelievable influence, but when it comes to antics on the floor and off-the-court situations, well, that's an entirely different story.

With Desmond Bane being the second piece of the one-two punch in the Grizzlies' backcourt, the two feed off one another, and while Morant wasn't even suited up for Memphis' win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, his influence was still apparent.

Late in the second quarter, Bane made a three-pointer over Philadelphia's Caleb Martin and pulled out the ‘finger gun’ celebration. It wasn't one of the gun celebrations you see where players point their fingers at a random spot in the crowd, either, Bane deliberately pointed his ‘gun’ at Martin in a lengthy fashion.

Bane deliberately pointing a ‘gun’ at Martin doesn't exactly help the reputation surrounding Morant or the city of Memphis as a whole. 

Morant was spotted doing the gun celebration towards Los Angeles Lakers' star Anthony Davis earlier this season from the team's bench. It's clear the celebration is the Grizzlies' ‘thing’ this year.

READ: Memphis Doctor Gunned Down In Front Of Family Gets Little Media Coverage, Here’s Why

Over the last year, Morant has gone from being known as simply being one of the freakishly talented players in all the NBA to a player who can not stay out of trouble. 

In March of last year, Morant displayed a handgun on Instagram Live from inside a club in Colorado hours after the Grizzlies lost to the Denver Nuggets. As a result, he was suspended by the NBA for eight games. 

Less than two months later, Morant flashed a gun on one of his friend's Instagram Live sessions, which resulted in another suspension, this time for 25 games.  

These two incidents took place after Morant was named a defendant in a lawsuit in which he was accused of punching a 17-year-old boy during a pickup basketball game at his home.

Simply put, the gun celebration is a bad look in any circumstance, but it's a horrendous look for the Memphis Grizzlies, and NBA fans reacted accordingly to Bane's gesture on Wednesday night.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.