Testifying for the first time in a lawsuit roughly one week before he is expected to return from a 25-game NBA suspension, Grizzlies guard Ja Morant took the stand Monday in Memphis and said he acted in self-defense when he punched a teenager at his home in July 2022.
Morant, testifying during the first day of an immunity hearing at Shelby County Circuit Court, said he "swung first" at Joshua Holloway, then 17, "to protect myself" during an altercation that led to Holloway filing a lawsuit in September 2022 that accused Morant of assault.