Adam Silver Shares News About Ja Morant's Return To The Court

It's been a long road for Ja Morant fans awaiting his return to the court, but the wait is almost up!

The Memphis Grizzlies star is in the final countdown to when he's eligible to begin playing with his team after his 25-game suspension. NBA commissioner Adam Silver shared some up-to-date information about Morant's return on Saturday night during the in-season tournament championship game.

In June, Morant was suspended for the first 25 games of this season for his second incident of brandishing a firearm during an Instagram Live. The first incident happened in March, where he was later suspended for eight games and attended a counseling program in Florida.

On Saturday night while in Las Vegas for the inaugural in-season tournament championship game, Silver addressed a number of league topics during a short press conference. One of those topics happened to be Morant and whether or not he will be making his 2023-2024 NBA debut on Dec. 19 as anticipated.

"I have been monitoring the situation closely, and him. In fact, we intend to have a check-in this week directly, Ja and I," Silver said. "But folks in the league office, together with Ja and his team and the Players Association, have been in regular contact, essentially weekly. There have been those checkpoints."

Silver continued to say that they've "laid out a program for him over the last several weeks" and as far as he knows, Morant has "complied with everything he's been asked to do."

"As I said, we'll talk at least once this week before he comes back, and we will review the program and make sure the conditions are in place for him to be successful going forward," Silver said.

Taylor Jenkins, Grizzlies head coach, also recently discussed the process to getting Morant back with the team in action on the court.

"I've got to say, he's been unbelievable with the process. I mean, it's been a lengthy process, but in every stage and every phase of the return to play and getting the opportunities with his teammates to practice, he's getting more of those," Jenkins said.

"In the last couple of sessions, he's been playing 5-on-5. We've got a schedule in the next couple of weeks to get him those opportunities, whether it's in our practice settings, it's outside of that, play groups like we talked about. He's been awesome. I expect him to be full go come game 26."

Instagram account, Shot by Nie, listed in his bio as a "Creative Director," often shares photos and videos of Morant. He recently shared a video captioned, "Just some buckets…first home game Dec 21st 🤝🏾," that showcases some of Morant's highlights on the court.

Shortly after the video was shared on social media, Morant dropped into the comments to correct the date simply writing, "dec 19."

Morant commenting "Dec. 19" has fans excited that his return is finally in sight.

"That first home game gone be diff🔥🔥🔥," one person wrote in the comments. Another added, "Cant wait! Here’s hoping Ja can get us out of this ridiculous losing slump & play like we did before the whole team was upended."

With the Grizzlies struggling this season, fans are hoping that Morant's return will help the team. Jenkins recently spoke about Morant wanting to be back for his team.

"Obviously, he's frustrated like all of us. I mean, he's got an ultimate care factor. He's openly talked to his team about how he wishes he was out there for them and he wants to be out there for them," Jenkins said.

"I think he's been phenomenal. His spirits have been good. He's come in with the right mentality, working on his body, his game. He's just been really consistent with his approach, every single day."

If in fact Morant returns to the court on Dec. 19 as anticipated, the Grizzlies will be going up against the New Orleans Pelicans on the road at 7:30 p.m. ET.