One of the strangest situations right now in the NBA is that of Markieff Morris and the Phoenix Suns, with the player doing everything in his power to force a trade, while the team itself has no intention of letting him go.
The Suns traded his twin brother, Marcus Morris, in the offseason to the Detroit Pistons for a second round draft pick (along with other players). That was the last straw for Markieff, who hasn’t been on too friendly of terms with head coach Jeff Hornacek, like his brother, over the last season.
The Morris twins feel like they’ve been betrayed by the team, promised (or maybe not) to be kept together on the team, or moved together. But an NBA team isn’t run like some amateurish organization. If one of the brothers isn’t right for the ball club, he won’t be kept around just for the sake of keeping his other brother happy.
Morris is set to earn $8 million for 2015-16, which is the first season of his four-year, $32 million extension. While that’s not a bad deal considering his ability to contribute (15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds per game) and the rising salary cap, there are plenty of questions about his behavior on and off the floor, which has helped paint him and his brother as the bad guys in this whole ordeal.
The Suns are probably trying to find a trade for Morris, but moving him at this point, when his value due to his reputation and his demand to leave the team, is a lot more difficult than before, and the Suns probably don’t like what’s being offered to them.