The NBA is facing pressure to come down hard on Ja Morant over gun controversies despite not being charged with any crimes

• Ja Morant appeared to be holding a gun in a video streamed live on Instagram.
• It was the second such video for Morant in a matter of months.

Ja Morant is facing another gun-related suspension, and the NBA may be set to come down hard on the young superstar.

For the second time this year, Morant was seen in a video in which he appeared to be holding a gun. This one was streamed live Saturday on Instagram with Morant in the passenger seat of a car.

Earlier this year, the NBA suspended Morant for eight games after he was seen on another Instagram Live post holding a gun in a nightclub.

In addition, Morant is facing a lawsuit from a teenager who accused the NBA player of attacking him during a pickup basketball game and retrieving a gun from his house after the altercation. Morant was also accused of threatening somebody on Twitter, insinuating that he'd shoot her with hollow-point bullets.

His team, the Memphis Grizzlies, has already suspended Morant from team activities. However, according to ESPN's NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Morant's next suspension by the NBA could be considerably longer.

"Ja Morant is facing the very real possibility of a lengthy suspension to start next season after this latest incident when he ended up carrying a firearm in his possession," Wojnarowski said on ABC.

Morant has not been charged with a crime

In a country where gun rights are a hot-button topic, one issue facing the NBA is that Morant has not been charged with any crimes related to his use or possession of guns. Police in Colorado did investigate Morant after the first video amid concerns that he was not permitted to carry a firearm in their state, but they later declared there was not enough evidence to charge anybody with a crime.

There could also be a level of hypocrisy in the sports world over how they handle athletes and their guns.

In NASCAR, a sport that leans whiter and much more conservative than the NBA, guns are used as prizes and celebrations at Texas Motor Speedway, and the sport has counted the NRA among its sponsors in recent years.

In 2013, NASCAR driver Ricket Stenhouse Jr. noted how intertwined gun culture is with their sport.

"The NRA is our core fan base, and we all have guns, and all us racers love to go out and shoot," Stenhouse told the AP. "It's part of who we are. Anytime you have a sponsor that embraces their market and who their core customers are, it's great for us."

In the NBA world, a player simply being seen with a gun is cause for panic and harsh punishment.

According to Wojnarowski, there is increasing pressure from other NBA teams for the league to come down hard on Morant for the negative image he is bringing with his gun controversies.

"I sense already that [NBA Commissioner] Adam Silver is going to feel increasing pressure from other teams in the league that see that as much as this impacts the Grizzlies, that it impacts them, and their ability to market their players and their teams," he said.

Wojnarowski also noted that the feeling around the NBA was that Silver had shown "restraint" with the previous 8-game suspension.

"The commissioner has pretty wide-ranging latitude in terms of best interest of the league [and] conduct detrimental to the NBA, to suspend Ja Morant without pay for a significant period to start the season," Wojnarowski said.