San Diego State’s Mitchell declares for NBA draft

Ja Morant sat down for an interview with ESPN’s Jalen Rose following a meeting with Adam Silver. Morant was suspended eight games without pay by the NBA and Silver called Morant’s conduct “irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous.”

Morant recently exited a counseling program in Florida.

“Honestly, I feel like we put ourselves in that situation with our past mistakes, and now it’s only right that we focus in and lock in on being smarter and more responsible, holding each other accountable for everything,” Morant said referring to his inner circle. “I feel like in the past we didn’t know what was at stake. And now finally me having that time to realize everything, have that time alone, I realize that now.

“I realize what I have to lose, and for us as a group, what we have to lose. It’s pretty much just that being more responsible, more smarter and staying away from all the bad decisions.”

Morant said the gun displayed in the video “wasn’t mine” but did not specify who it belonged to or how it ended up in his hands.

“It’s not who I am,” Morant said. “I don’t condone it or any type of violence, but I take full responsibility from my actions. I made a bad mistake. I can see the image that I painted over myself with my recent mistakes. But in the future, I’m going to show everybody who Ja really is, what I’m about and change this narrative that everybody got.”