Marcus Morris officially signed with the New York Knicks earlier this week on a one-year, $15 million deal. This ended a rocky free-agent process for the former Boston Celtics forward, and one that left some carnage in its wake.
Morris had reportedly agreed to a two-year deal worth $20 million to join the San Antonio Spurs. However, he backed out of that agreement to join the Knicks on the shorter-term contract worth more in average annual value. After that, Morris and his agent, Rich Paul, parted ways.
And according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, the reason that Paul and Morris are on the outs is due to Morris' decision to renege his verbal agreement with the Spurs.
Morris’ super-agent, Rich Paul, was not involved directly in Morris breaking his verbal agreement with the Spurs, according to a source, and the Knicks and Morris worked on a new deal together. The source reports Paul preferred Morris stick to his original agreement and the two are headed toward a breakup over the incident.
It's understandable why Paul would be a bit frustrated with this development, as the Spurs had to orchestrate a sign-and-trade of sharpshooting stretch four, Davis Bertans, to fit Morris onto their roster. But with Morris deciding to sign elsewhere, the Spurs essentially gave up a young asset for nothing. Had Paul stayed with Morris, that could have damaged his reputation with the Spurs, so he apparently chose to distance himself from Morris' decision instead.
Of course, it's also worth noting that Morris reportedly had a $41 million contract on the table from the Los Angeles Clippers that he didn't end up accepting. It's unclear why he chose not to sign there, but it's yet another intriguing footnote in Morris' summer. The Clippers would move on from Morris to add Moe Harkless in a trade before landing both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
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With the dust settled, it looks like Morris won't have Paul in his corner anymore. But he will be with the Knicks and will have plenty of chances to suit up against the Celtics in the 2019-20 campaign.
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