Ja Morant’s Ja 1 ‘Hunger’ sneakers are no longer listed on the Nike and Finish Line apps as of Thursday morning, just days after another Instagram video of the Memphis Grizzlies star point guard showed him holding an object that appeared to be a gun.
News of the shoe’s removal was first reported by the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Nike’s Hunger Ja 1s have been expected to release May 25 and were reportedly listed on both apps as recently as Tuesday.
Nike’s website has also removed listings of all previous Morant sneakers. However, the Nike-owned SNKRS app and website still list the Hunger Ja 1s as available for order through a raffle for $110 starting May 25.
The Grizzlies suspend Morant while the NBA investigates the video of him holding what appeared to be a gun surfaced last weekend on an Instagram Live streamed by his friend Davante Pack’s account. The NBA suspended Morant for eight games this past season after he posted an Instagram video of himself holding a gun in a Colorado nightclub in March.
Nike signed Morant to a multi-year shoe deal in 2019, while he signed a five-year contract extension with the Grizzlies last season that includes $193 million guaranteed. The 23-year-old also has a sponsorship with Powerade.
“What’s going to happen now? Nike gonna pull that shoe? Is Powerade gonna pull that drink?” ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said of Morant. “I know in my house; I told [my son] you can’t have the shoe. Our money as a family is not going toward that.”
