NBA
Coca-Cola announced they are pulling their Powerade ad with Grizzlies star Ja Morant due to gun video controversy
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated13 Mar 2023
Over the weekend the Memphis Grizzlies fell from second in the Western Conference to third. Ja Morant being out has hurt the team recently and they are not playing to their true potential this late in the season. He’s missed the last four games in a row and will miss at least the next two as he’s away from the team dealing with the gun video controversy. Now, Coca-Cola has announced they are pulling his ad with Powerade and it’s unclear what his future holds with them moving forward.
The Grizzlies were having a strong season and they still are, but Morant’s off-the-court issues seem to overshadow everything else happening in Memphis. He’s letting real-life issues bleed into his basketball life and it’s holding back the Grizzlies from being a true NBA title contender.
Morant has a lot of issues that need to be resolved before getting back on the court and it may be a while before that happens. At third in the West with a 40-26 record, Tennessee Sports Betting sites have the Grizzlies at (+2200) to win the Finals this season.
Powerade plans to pull their ad with Ja Morant, per @nypost pic.twitter.com/tQ8RkwohYV
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 13, 2023
Will Morant and Powerade still have a partnership after all the dust settles?
The Grizzlies 23 year old superstar was set to headline the biggest marketing campaign in Powerade’s 36 year history. His add featured the tagline “From Underestimated to Undeniable”, and it’s just unlucky timing for both parties.
Reports say he inked a multi-year endorsement deal with Powerade just days before he was seen holding a gun on an Instagram live video. The numbers on his deal are not known to the public, but the fact that this was their biggest marketing campaign in 36 years tells you a lot.
Morant still has supporters at Nike and they’ve publicly said “We appreciate Ja’s accountability”. It still remains unclear when he will make his return back to the team. The Grizzlies have 16 regular season games left until the playoffs begin.
