Arrest warrant issued for close friend of Ja Morant

The warrant stems from a fight during a pickup basketball game in July 2022 at the Memphis Grizzlies' star's home, per the report.

Pack has been charged with simple assault during the incident in which a teenager said Morant and Pack punched him, according to a statement from the Shelby County district attorney's office.

According to the Associated Press report, records show that the warrant for Pack was issued Monday, which is also when Morant's lawyers "argued in civil court that the teen’s lawsuit against Morant should be dismissed because he acted in self-defense after the teen threw a basketball at Morant and it hit Morant in the chin."

The lawsuit against Morant and Pack accuses the pair of "assault, reckless endangerment, abuse or neglect, and infliction of emotional distress." Per the report, the two-time All-Star filed a countersuit, accusing the now-18-year-old Joshua Holloway of "slander, battery and assault."

The report adds that no criminal charges have been filed against Morant.

The latest update is not the first time Morant has had a brush with the law. It's also not the first time Pack's name has come up.

The former Rookie of the Year was investigated after a late-January occurrence in Memphis that he said prompted Pack to be banned from Grizzlies home games for one year. The incident came after a contest against the Indiana Pacers where according to reports, multiple members of the visiting team saw a red dot pointed at them and a Pacers security member thought the laser was attached to a gun.

The NBA later confirmed that "unnamed individuals were banned from the arena," but added that they found "no evidence that anyone was threatened with a weapon."

Morant tweeted that the reports "paint this negative image on me and my fam. & banned my brother from home games for a year. unbelievable." Pack was escorted out of the arena during the game as Pacers bench players yelled in his direction.

The 23-year-old point guard will begin the 2023-24 regular season by serving a 25-game suspension in the wake of an investigation into Morant's second gun-related incident in recent months.