Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant raised eyebrows earlier this week when he performed a grenade celebration a week after getting fined for using gun gestures.

Morant faced criticism for the new celebration maneuver from former NBA stars Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith on Thursday night. 

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"He has a history that maybe he should leave the celebrations where people might die alone," Smith advised during the "Inside the NBA" broadcast.

Barkley called it "immature" and predicted that former Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins was happy that he did not "have to deal with is crap" anymore.

Morant, again, did the grenade celebration, mimicking throwing one into the crowd and covering his ears for the imaginary explosion. The Grizzlies star received much criticism over the course of the week, and he responded to it on Thursday before the team’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"That's my celebration now until somebody else has a problem with it, and I'll find another one," he said.

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Morant was suspended for 25 games at the start of the 2023-24 season after several gun-related issues came to light. He was fined last week for gun-aiming gestures that were deemed to be "inappropriate." He had received a warning before the fine.

"He knows what he's doing, because y'all are going to keep talking about it.," Shaquille O’Neal added on the TNT broadcast.

Morant’s teammate Vince Williams Jr. backed the guard, saying he "would have went to that too."

"It's good for him," Williams said. "He gets to save his money. Anything that benefits him saving his money, I'm all for it, honestly."

Despite the loss, the Grizzlies are still in the playoffs but are fighting to get out of the play-in bracket. Right now, they would be the No. 7 seed and would have to face the Dallas Mavericks.

However, with two games left, the team is just a tiebreaker behind the Golden State Warriors for the No. 6 seed and a game behind the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers for a possible No. 4 or No. 5 seed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jon Rahm was once the No. 1 golfer in the world, but after winning the Masters in 2023, he has struggled to stay competitive in the majors that came next.

On Thursday, Rahm had a few bad breaks and nearly snapped his club when he drove a tee shot on the ninth hole to his right and into the woods. Rahm knew exactly what happened and let the club out of his hands as the ball tailed off.

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He nearly snapped the club over his knee before thinking he might need the club for the rest of his round.

He finished the first round of the Masters shooting 3-over par and was tied for 63rd. He carded five bogeys.

Datagolf.com projected that 3-over could be the cut line to make it into the final two days of the tournament, with a near 30% chance it moves down to +4 and around a 20% chance it moves to +2.

Rahm was one of the handful of PGA Tour golfers who joined LIV Golf over the last few years. He is third this season in the LIV Golf standings. He finished tied for second at Riyadh and had not dropped out of the top 10 all season long.

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Rahm finished tied for 45th at last year’s Masters. He talked earlier in the week about the pressure he’s felt amid the tug of war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

"There was a few times where there was a lot of questions that I didn’t really have an answer to, and I tried to, and I just really didn’t," he said, via The Athletic. "Kind of like … the state of the game and what’s happening. We don’t know. No one knows. We all want a solution, and it’s hard to give one."

Justin Rose finished the first round in the lead at 7-under with Corey Conners, Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Aberg tied for second at 4-under.

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