How many times does Markieff Morris have to mess up to prove that he isn’t worth the headache? He certainly can’t be worth a first-round pick from any team, no matter how desperate.
The Washington Wizards didn’t feel that way, because they decided to ship off a protected first along with Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair to the Phoenix Suns for the embattled Morris.
The Wizards were hopeful to make another playoff run in 2015-16, but instead have been one of the season’s greatest disappointments, currently 10th in the Eastern Conference. Their switch to a more up-tempo small ball offense has been a bust — 20th in the league in offensive rating — which left them needing scoring help. Enter Markieff Morris.
Morris was an anchor for the Suns that they were desperate to be rid of. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported just seven weeks ago that Morris’ trade value had dropped so low, teams that were interested were asking for an additional asset as incentive to take Morris on.
For some reason, the Wizards were more than willing to deal for just him. They are putting a lot of faith in a guy who has been the model of immaturity over the past six months. Among his antics are publicly demanding a trade, throwing a towel at former head coach Jeff Hornacek and fighting during a game with teammate Archie Goodwin.
Now that Washington is willing to take a flyer on him for their remaining 31 regular season games, he needs to play better basketball. That’s the biggest problem. If Morris was putting up numbers similar to those from last season, he would’ve already been dealt.
Morris is in his fifth season out of the University of Kansas and is averaging 11.6 points, 2.4 assists, and 5.2 rebounds on a slash line of .397/.289/.717. The immense drop-off from 2014-15 — 15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, .465/.318/.763 — is not something that can be fixed with a change of scenery.
The Suns will be happy to see Morris go. The Wizards shouldn’t be so happy to have him.
