Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has made waves recently for a unique and controversial celebration. Of late, Morant has appeared to celebrate some of his made 3-pointers by pretending to take the pin out of a grenade and then throwing it.
Morant has claimed that the celebration isn’t meant to be a grenade toss, with the guard asserting that the celebration is just a depiction of him throwing his words and then blocking out the noise. But the act has gone viral after the NBA handed him a $75,000 fine for celebrations involving gun gestures.
At least one professional basketball player has paid homage to Morant’s new celebration, as former Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn took to X on Saturday and gloated about copying the celebration.
Nunn plays for Panathinaikos of the EuroLeague and Greek Basketball League. He is one of the top players in Europe, averaging 21.1 points, 4.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 steal per contest in the EuroLeague this season.
Not long ago, Panathinaikos rewarded Nunn for his excellent play with a lucrative contract to make him the highest-paid basketball player in all of Europe. He is slated to stick around with the team until 2028.
Far before Nunn staked his claim as an elite scorer in Europe, he got off to an auspicious start to his NBA career with the Heat. He was one of the best first-year players in the league in the 2019-20 season and maybe would have captured the league’s Rookie of the Year award that season if Morant didn’t have such an excellent maiden season.
Nunn averaged 15.3 points per game while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from 3-point range across 67 games played as a rookie, and he finished second in the league’s Rookie of the Year voting behind only Morant. He appeared in 15 more games as a rookie in the 2020 NBA Playoffs, when the Heat reached the NBA Finals.
Nunn was also productive during his sophomore season with Miami, but his NBA career seemingly peaked early on. He last played in the league in the 2022-23 campaign after missing the 2021-22 season due to injury.
Even if Nunn’s NBA career maybe didn’t pan out the way some imagined it would, it’s nice to see that he’s playing at such a high level overseas.