The Suns split up the Morris twins in July, trading Marcus Morris to Detroit, separating him from Markieff much to his chagrin. The twins are extremely close — they live together, and their agent even negotiated their contract extensions together. Understandably, the Suns were worried about how Markieff would handle his brother being traded away. The assumption from head coach Jeff Hornacek and GM Ryan McDonough was that once training camp rolled around, he’d be fine.
Phoenix-area radio host John Gambadoro reports that his mindstate these days as it relates to the Suns is...not so good:
According to @Gambo987's sources, Markieff wants out. He wants nothing to do with the #Suns. Won't talk to players or staff. #NBA
— The Burns & Gambo Show (@BurnsAndGambo) August 6, 2015
We’ll see how this plays out over the next two months. Markieff Morris is a talented power forward who could help a lot of teams and at $8 million a year for the next four years, he’s on a great contract. But his trade value isn’t at its highest right now: not only are there obvious questions about whether he will be happy playing without his brother, but both of them are currently in the middle of some legal problems, having been charged with felony aggravated assault. It’s tough to see another team giving up a lot of assets for him with all of this baggage. Whether in Phoenix or elsewhere, he’s going to have to learn that this is a business and nobody guaranteed him that he’d always be able to play with Marcus.