Ja Morant's father, Tee Morant, was subjected to vulgar and racist comments during Game 2 of the first round playoff series between the Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz.

"I know heckling," Tee Morant said in a phone interview with ESPN on Thursday night. "We were doing that the whole game. But that's different than heckling. That's straight up disrespectful. That was too far out of line. You don't say nothing like that heckling. That's beyond heckling."

Ja Morant, in a tweet posted later Thursday, agreed with Utah's decision to ban the fans, writing, "my family should be able [to] cheer for me & my teammates without getting inappropriate s--- said to them."

Morant went on to write that his family told him they "felt the love from all the other jazz fans who were around them" and that it was just the three fans who "went too far."

Tee Morant said one fan made a sexually explicit remark to his wife, Jamie.

According to Tee Morant, another Jazz fan told him, "I'll put a nickel in your back and watch you dance, boy."

Several other Jazz fans confronted that fan and alerted security. 

"The Utah Jazz have zero tolerance for offensive or disruptive behavior," the Jazz said in a statement Thursday. "An incident occurred last night involving a verbal altercation during Game 2. Arena security staff intervened, and the investigation resulted in the removal and banning of three Jazz fans indefinitely.

"We apologize to all who were impacted by this unfortunate incident and condemn unacceptable fan behavior."

Friday night's Play-In Game between the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies averaged over 3.6 million viewers, according to Ben Cafardo of ESPN.

It was the second most watched game of the season on ESPN, and won the night across primetime and in all key demos.

The Play-In Game between the Lakers and Warriors drew ESPN's best NBA rating since 2019.

The NBA Play-In Tournament schedule was officially set on Sunday night.

The tournament begins on Tuesday night with the Hornets playing the Pacers and Wizards battling the Celtics.

The Spurs play the Grizzlies in the early game Wednesday, followed by the Warriors versus the Lakers.

The winner of Hornets-Pacers would then play the loser of the Wizards-Celtics on Thursday to determine the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The winner of Spurs and Grizzlies would play the loser of the Warriors-Lakers for the No. 8 seed in the West. 

The winner of Sunday's game between the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies will determine the No. 8 seed. The winner gets the eighth seed while the loser drops to ninth.

The eighth seed will have to be beaten twice to not qualify for the playoffs, while the ninth seed will have to beat the tenth seed and then the loser of the seven versus eight game.

The Los Angeles Lakers are likely to end up in the No. 7 spot.

While both the Warriors and Grizzlies play on Friday, the game has no bearing on the eighth seed. 

The Memphis Grizzlies are concerned about the durability of Jaren Jackson Jr., who recently returned from a torn meniscus. Jackson will become eligible for a contract extension with the Grizzlies this offseason.

Jackson's father Jaren Jackson Sr., was recently hired by the Knicks as an assistant coach with the Westchester Knicks of the G League. Jackson is also a former client of Leon Rose and is now with Austin Brown of CAA.

Sources also tell Marc Berman of the New York Post that Scott Perry was high on Jackson when he was the fourth overall pick in the draft.

Jackson could conceivably play a small-ball 5 role beside Julius Randle.