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As Marcus Morris prepares to make his return to TD Garden as a member of the Knicks, he mentioned how he was disappointed Boston never contacted him during free agency.
Morris spent the last two seasons on the Celtics after he was acquired in a trade with the Pistons, and provided a toughness on both ends of the floor to go along with some timely shotmaking at times during his short tenure. He was having the best season of his career during last year's turbulent campaign, but his production fell off after the All-Star break.
The Celtics had to deal with a mass exodus of key players and said goodbye to Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Aron Baynes and Terry Rozier as well as Morris. They added Kemba Walker, Vincent Poirier and Enes Kanter in free agency, but Morris told The Athletic's Jay King that he was disappointed Danny Ainge never called him during free agency.
I wouldn’t use the word upset. Just kind of disappointed. I tried hard to be a leader for this team. During our tough times I felt like I always was a bright spot for this team. In the two years I was here I was nothing but professional, I did everything right. As a player, you want to get rewarded for those things. I’ve been fighting hard ever since I’ve been in this league, every single year. And I just felt as though just a phone call would have done me justice. So it is what it is.
Boston Celtics
Morris would go on to agree to a two-year, $20 million contract with the Spurs on June 30 but backed out on the deal to sign a one-year, $15 million contract with the Knicks. Love him or not, Morris is probably not the person to complain about free-agent etiquette.
Another thing to note is that the Celtics had limited cap space to work with once Irving, Horford and Baynes were out the door. They had enough space for a max-contract slot and used it on Kemba Walker, so at that point, the most Morris could have gotten from Boston was what they gave to Kanter (two-years, 10 million). The Celtics had to renounce Morris' rights to free up the max slot, so they did not have his bird rights anymore.
Morris has basically cut the Celtics out of his mind, telling King he doesn't watch any of their games anymore since he's a Knick now. Makes sense, but maybe Ainge will have to pay him a visit tomorrow to hash things out.
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