BOSTON – NBA players Markieff and Marcus Morris, each facing a pair of aggravated assault charges stemming from an incident in 2015, will have their day in court on August 28.
Marcus, who was acquired by Boston via trade from Detroit this summer, as well as his brother Markieff who plays for Washington, will appear telephonically according to Maricopa County court officials.
Marcus and his twin brother Markieff were allegedly involved in a January 24, 2015 incident in Phoenix that left Erik Hood who attended the same Philadelphia high school as the Morris twins, with a broken nose, abrasions and a large bump on his head.
Hood told police that he was held down while four men assaulted him outside of a high school basketball game in Phoenix, and that the Morris twins were among those to assault him. Authorities said a witness identified the Morris twins as having been present at the scene during the incident.
According to Hood, he had at times coached them in addition to occasionally giving them rides to practice. But the relationship went south about a year before the twins were drafted. That is when they reportedly found “inappropriate” text messages from Hood to their mother.
The Morris twins have said they had nothing to do with the incident, and added that they have no ties to Hood.
A conviction could potentially result in jail time – each of the aggravated assault charges carries a maximum jail sentence of 3 ¾ years – in addition to a 10-game suspension under Article VI, Section 7 of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement which states that a player will be suspended for “a minimum of ten (10) games” if they are convicted, pleads guilty or pleads no contest or “nolo contendere” to a violent felony.
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And while pleading down to a misdemeanor charge may result in the Morris twins avoiding jail while being put on probation and likely paying a fine, that too would likely lead to some type of league suspension.
Article 35 of the league’s Constitution gives Commissioner Adam Silver the power to suspend a player if he, “shall have been guilty of conduct that does not conform to standards of morality or fair play, that does not comply at all times with all federal, state, and local laws, or that is prejudicial or detrimental to the Association.”