After the Suns traded away twin brother Marcus to the Detroit Pistons last month, now Markieff could be the latest Morris punching his ticket out of Phoenix.
According to a report on Thursday by John Gambadaro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, Markieff Morris wants out of Phoenix and is not even speaking with anyone in the organization right now. He is said to want nothing more to do with the Suns and is giving players and staff alike the cold shoulder.
Morris, 25, averaged career highs across the board last season with 15.3 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, and 2.3 assists per game. He wasn’t quite the stretch-4 Channing Frye-replacement the Suns envisioned (31.8 percent shooting from deep last year). But nonetheless, his ability to score efficiently in the post, even on heavily contested attempts, gave the Phoenix offense added dimension and versatility. Morris proved a solid passer as well despite being only an average to below-average rebounder and defender for his size.
But for all of Markieff’s strengths on the court, he has proved a bit of a distraction off it as well. He famously bashed the enthusiasm of Suns fans back in February. He was also charged with felony assault in April, along with his twin brother, a situation which has yet to be resolved.
Being blindsided by the out-of-nowhere trade of Marcus may have been the boiling point for Markieff as this situation now looks to be beyond repair.
Marcus has been very vocal about his displeasure with the Suns for trading him, lashing out at them and their fans on Twitter in recent days, calling them “bandwagon” and “clowns.”
I'm blocking most of the Suns fans on my timeline ????? most of them bandwagon any way ???. I still got love for some #foe
— Marcus Morris (@MookMorris2) July 31, 2015
@A1Laflare10 u killed in summer league for them clowns though kid..
— Marcus Morris (@MookMorris2) July 31, 2015
In a series of since-deleted tweets, Marcus even hinted that Markieff wouldn’t be a Sun for much longer.
Marcus would later tell the Detroit Free-Press, “Everybody knew how bad I wanted to play with my brother. Phoenix knew. For them to trade me without consent or telling me was like a slap in the face, because of the contract I took from those guys and the money I took from them.”
The brothers are clearly taking their separation badly, and it may now only be a matter of time before Phoenix is absent of any trace of the Morris family.
Don’t expect Markieff and Marcus to be reunited in Detroit, however. Pistons head coach and general manager Stan Van Gundy beefed with Markieff last November after Markieff said that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope “didn’t have any heart.” Said Van Gundy at the time via the Detroit Free-Press, “I’m not quite sure – maybe he knows – I’m not quite sure what Markieff Morris has accomplished in the league that gets him to the point of mouthing off… It seems to me you should at least participate in a playoff game before you do.”
While maturity has never been one of the strong suits of the Morris twins, Phoenix’s player relations are worth taking a long, hard look at, as this is not the first time something like this has happened in recent months. Just look at the sour manner in which Goran Dragic’s tenure with the team ended last year. And though they were able to patch things up, it was almost a similar situation with Eric Bledsoe.
Hopefully, this now-ugly situation gets resolved sooner rather than later, preferably before the Suns open up training camp.
