The San Antonio Spurs agreed to a deal with Marcus Morris in the first week of free agency only to have him back out and sign with the New York Knicks, and you can probably guess how Gregg Popovich’s team feels about the situation.
One NBA general manager told Frank Isola of The Athletic that the Spurs are “pissed” that Morris did not honor the verbal agreement they had in place with him for a two-year, $20 million deal. He instead signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the Knicks, and that came after San Antonio created more cap space by trading Davis Bertans and having free agent DeMarre Carroll tweak his deal. While there are no rules against what Morris and the Knicks did, it is certainly frowned upon.
The Spurs and Knicks have a rivalry that dates back to when there was some bad blood when the two teams met in the 1999 NBA Finals, and Isola was told by a source close to the Morris situation that New York considered it a “small victory.” There’s a belief that they were happy to pull one over on the Spurs because they think some members of the San Antonio organization made illegal contact with Kristaps Porzingis when he was still playing for New York.
Morris and his agent, Rich Paul, parted ways after Morris agreed to sign with the Knicks. A report has since claimed that was because Paul wanted Morris to stick with the Spurs.
Morris has a right to change his mind, but you don’t see things unfold that way often in NBA free agency. It’s no surprise it has likely negatively impacted the relationship between the Spurs and Knicks.
