The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2023
Two videos cost Ja Morant 33 games and put his signature shoe in storage
After a second gun video, Nike pulled Morant's Ja 1 a week before launch, Powerade paused its deal, and the NBA suspended him 25 games — about $7.5 million.
Powerade · Nike · NBA · Memphis Grizzlies · 2023-06-16
What happened
In March 2023 Ja Morant appeared on an Instagram Live video holding a handgun at a Denver-area club. The NBA suspended him eight games, and Coca-Cola's Powerade — which had signed him to a multiyear deal as the face of a rebrand — removed his ads from its website and social channels; the partnership was, at the least, on hold.
Two months later a second video showed Morant with a firearm, and the league found he had 'wielded a firearm while knowing that he was being recorded'. Nike removed his Ja 1 signature shoe from its app and website on 18 May, a week before the shoe's scheduled release. On 16 June the NBA suspended him 25 games at the start of the 2023–24 season, costing him about $7.5 million.
Commissioner Adam Silver said Morant's 'decision to once again wield a firearm on social media is alarming and disconcerting', and that 'the potential for other young people to emulate Ja's conduct is particularly concerning'.
Why it happened
- A signature shoe is the brand's whole bet on one athlete: the Ja 1 was pulled a week before launch because the product had become the person.
- The two partners reacted on different clocks — Powerade paused within days of the first video, Nike pulled the shoe within days of the second — but both were pricing the same conduct.
- The NBA's finding did the work for the sponsors: once the league called the behavior reckless and flagged emulation risk, the ads and the shoe were unsellable.
The lesson
A sponsorship is priced on the person, not the product: the first video cost Morant eight games and his Powerade campaign; the second cost him 25 games and his shoe launch.
Aftermath
Morant served the 25-game suspension at the start of the 2023–24 season after completing a league program. Nike returned to the line in September 2024, announcing the Ja 2 — released on 26 September — with Nike Basketball saying it was 'excited for the world to wear the Ja 2'.
Sources
- Powerade removes Ja Morant from website, social media — Ad Age, 10 March 2023
- Powerade pulls Ja Morant ad; partnership 'at the least, on hold' — Yahoo Sports, March 2023
- Nike removes Ja Morant's signature shoe from app, website — Front Office Sports, 18 May 2023
- NBA suspends Ja Morant 25 games — ESPN, 16 June 2023
- Ja Morant's second signature shoe, the Ja 2 — Nike Newsroom, 25 September 2024
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