To say the Washington Wizards were very thorough when evaluating Markieff Morris for a potential trade last month would be an understatement.
The Wizards were aware of Morris’ behavioral issues in Phoenix prior to trading for him before the deadline in February. Before bringing him into their organization, they wanted to make sure he would fit and not be a problem. To that end, they made around 40 phone calls to vet the forward.
“They vetted him extremely closely before making the deal,” ESPN announcer Mark Jones said while broadcasting the Wizards-Pistons game on Monday night. “I’m told by a couple Wizards administrators that there were some 40 phone calls to people he would come into regular contact with. Former teammates, former coaches, people all over the basketball landscape, and they were reassured that this was a solid guy, that this is going to work out. … They thought that this would be a great fit.”
Jones then said it seemed Morris acted out in Phoenix because he felt betrayed by the Suns.
“All indications were that there was a feeling and a sense of betrayal because of all the promises that he was made in Phoenix. And he’s past the disappointment and almost at home here,” Jones said of Morris.
The broken promises in all likelihood had to do with the team trading Markieff’s twin brother Marcus to the Detroit Pistons over the summer. Shortly after his brother was traded, Markieff went on Twitter to say his future would not be in Phoenix. Then whether it was shoving a teammate or disrespecting his head coach, Markieff seemed to do everything possible to be a problem in Phoenix to convince them to trade him. He finally got his way.
Markieff has averaged 9.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game since joining the Wizards and appears to not have caused any problems.
