Marcus Morris Sr.

Marcus Morris Sr.
Marcus Morris Sr.
Born	September 2, 1989 (age 37); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Professional basketball player
Years active	2011–present
Known for	NBA player for multiple teams including Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers

Marcus Thomas Morris Sr. (born September 2, 1989) is an American professional basketball athlete who most recently played for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Prior to his professional career, he competed at the collegiate level with the Kansas Jayhawks. Morris was chosen 14th overall by the Houston Rockets during the 2011 NBA draft.

Early life

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Morris is the son of Thomasine "Angel" Morris. He has four siblings, including his twin brother Markieff, who also plays in the NBA.

Rated as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Morris was ranked as the No. 10 power forward and the 29th best player nationally in the class of 2008.

College career

At the University of Kansas, Morris pursued a major in American studies. He earned the title of 2010–11 Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and received second team All-American distinctions from both the Associated Press and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Additionally, Fox Sports recognized him with third team All-America honors. On March 30, 2011, he was selected for the exclusive ten-member John R. Wooden Award Men's All American team. Following this, he and his brother signed with a sports agent based in Los Angeles and declared for the 2011 NBA draft.

Houston Rockets (2011–2013)

In the 2011 NBA draft, Morris was picked 14th overall by the Houston Rockets, just after his twin Markieff was selected 13th by the Phoenix Suns. On January 2, 2012, he was assigned to play for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s affiliate in the NBA Development League. During his debut in the D-League, Morris recorded an impressive 33 points along with 16 rebounds. Throughout that season, he alternated between playing for both the Rockets and their D-League team.

Due to an injury sustained by Patrick Patterson, Rockets head coach Kevin McHale appointed Morris as starting power forward for Houston’s opening game of the 2012–13 season. After limited playing time during his rookie year because of injury setbacks, Morris demonstrated considerable improvement, increasing his three-point shooting accuracy from 12% to 38%, and started in 17 games while Patterson was out.

Phoenix Suns (2013–2015)

Morris was traded to the Phoenix Suns on February 21, 2013, rejoining his brother Markieff. The following day, both brothers made their debut together in a game against the Boston Celtics, where Marcus scored seven points despite not having practiced with Phoenix beforehand. This event marked only the second instance of twin brothers playing on the same NBA team since Dick and Tom Van Arsdale did so with the Suns during the 1976–77 season. On March 1, Morris contributed 16 points including four three-pointers in a victory over the Atlanta Hawks. By March 9, Marcus and Markieff became the first twins ever to start simultaneously for one NBA team during a contest against their former team, the Rockets.

On September 29, 2014, Morris secured a multi-year contract extension with Phoenix. In the season opener on October 29, he tallied 21 points helping to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers. On January 7, Morris received a technical foul after being televised arguing with head coach Jeff Hornacek, which led to him being benched for the rest of that game. These incidents contributed to his image as one of Arizona’s notable sports antagonists.

On February 6, 2015, Morris achieved his first career double-double by posting personal bests of 34 points and 12 rebounds during a win against the Utah Jazz. He became only the second player after Brook Lopez in that season to record a bench performance featuring at least 30 points and 10 rebounds; prior to him, no Suns player had accomplished this since Danny Manning back in 1997. On March 22 versus the Dallas Mavericks, both Marcus and Markieff recorded double-doubles simultaneously for their first time as professionals.

Detroit Pistons (2015–2017)

On July 9, 2015, Morris was sent to the Detroit Pistons in a trade that included Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger, with a 2020 second-round draft pick moving in the opposite direction. He made his Pistons debut on October 27, 2015, against the Atlanta Hawks, posting 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 106–94 victory. Morris reached a season-high of 31 points on April 1, 2016, despite a loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Detroit ended the season with a 44–38 record, clinching their first playoff appearance since 2009; however, they were swept by the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round.

On February 3, 2017, Morris achieved a personal best by scoring 36 points during a 116–108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, then surpassed this mark with 37 points on February 28 in an overtime triumph against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Boston Celtics (2017–2019)

Morris was traded to the Boston Celtics on July 7, 2017, in exchange for Avery Bradley and a second-round pick in the 2019 draft. On March 31, 2018, he tallied 25 points in a 110–99 victory over the Toronto Raptors, extending his streak to four consecutive games scoring at least 20 points—a new personal record.

New York Knicks (2019–2020)

Morris signed with the New York Knicks on July 16, 2019. He set a new career-high of 38 points on January 5, 2020, while matching his record for field goals made (13) in a narrow 135–132 defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Los Angeles Clippers (2020–2023)

On February 6, 2020, Morris was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a three-team deal involving the Washington Wizards. This transaction sent Maurice Harkless to New York and Jerome Robinson to Washington; additionally, the Clippers acquired Isaiah Thomas.

Morris debuted for the Clippers on February 9, 2020, contributing 10 points in a commanding 133–92 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. During the 2020 NBA playoffs, he was ejected in Game 6 of the first round following a flagrant foul against Luka Dončić, resulting in a $35,000 fine but no suspension. In the Western Conference Semifinals, Morris was involved in an altercation with Paul Millsap as the Clippers lost a seven-game series to the Nuggets after holding a 3–1 lead. He averaged 11.8 points and collected 4.8 rebounds throughout the postseason.

On November 25, 2020, Morris secured a four-year contract extension with the Clippers worth $64 million.

Philadelphia 76ers (2023–2024)

The Philadelphia 76ers acquired Morris on November 1, 2023, along with Nicolas Batum, Kenyon Martin Jr., and Robert Covington from the Clippers. In return, Philadelphia sent James Harden, P. J. Tucker, and Filip Petrušev to Los Angeles. The trade also involved draft picks and cash considerations exchanged between the Sixers and the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of this three-team deal.

On February 8, 2024, Morris was traded again in a three-team transaction involving the Indiana Pacers, landing with the San Antonio Spurs. He did not participate in any games for San Antonio before being waived on February 29.

Cleveland Cavaliers (2024)

On March 18, 2024, Morris agreed to a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Subsequently, on March 29, he secured a deal to remain for the rest of the season. Later, on September 15, 2024, Morris inked an Exhibit 9 contract with the New York Knicks, but was released from the team on September 28.

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Houston | 17 || 0 || 7.4 || .296 || .118 || .750 || .9 || .2 || .1 || .1 || 2.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"rowspan=2| | style="text-align:left;"|Houston | 54 || 17 || 21.4 || .428 || .381 || .653 || 4.1 || .9 || .5 || .3 || 8.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 23 || 6 || 16.1 || .405 || .308 || .405 || 2.5 || .7 || .8 || .2 || 5.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 82 || 1 || 22.0 || .442 || .381 || .761 || 3.9 || 1.1 || .9 || .2 || 9.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Phoenix | 81 || 35 || 25.2 || .434 || .358 || .628 || 4.8 || 1.6 || .8 || .2 || 10.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit | 80 || 80 || 35.7 || .434 || .362 || .749 || 5.1 || 2.5 || .8 || .3 || 14.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit | 79 || 79||32.5||.418||.331||.784||4.6||2.0||.7||.3||14.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Boston |54||21||26.7||.429||.368||.805||5.4||1.3||.6||.2||13.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Boston |75||53||27.9||.447||.375||.844||6.1||1.5||.6||.3||13.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"rowspan=2| | style="text-align:left;" |New York

|43||43||32.3||.442||.439||.823||5.4||1.4||.8||.4||19.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |L.A.Clippers
|19||19||28.9||.425||.310||.818||4.1||1.4||.7||.7||10.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |
| style="text-align:left;" |L.A.Clippers
|57||29||26.3||'.473'||'.473'||'.820'||4.1||1.0||0.6||0.3||13.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |
| style="text-align:left;" |L.A.Clippers
|54||54||29.0||'.434'||'.367'||'.872'||4..4'||2..1'||0..5'||0..3'||15..4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |
| style="text-align:left;" |L.A.Clippers
|65||65||28..1'||'.426'||'.364'||'.782'||4..0'||1..8'||0..6'||0..3'||11..2
|- 
|style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2> 
|style="text-align:left;" 2023–24 Philadelphia 76ers season 
|37||7||17..2'||'.439'||'.400'||'.861'||2..9'||0..7'||0..4'||0..3'||6..7 
|- 
|style="text-align:left;" 2023–24 Cleveland Cavaliers season 
|12||0||15..0'||'.441'||'.414'||'.625'||2..1'||0..8'||0..2'||0..2'||5..8 
|- class="sortbottom" 
|style="text-align:center;" colspan= "2"|Career 
|832||509||26..6'||'.435'||'.377'||'.774'||4..4'||1..5'||0..7'||0..3'12

Postseason Performances

|- | style="text-align:left;"|2016 | style="text-align:left;"|Detroit | 4 || 4 || 36.0 || .468 || .389 || .870 || 3.3 || 2.5 || .5 || .0 || 17.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2018 | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | 19 || 4 || 29.6 || .368 || .417 || .712 || 5.4 || 1.1 || .4 || .3 || 12.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2019 | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | 9 || 4 || 28.3 || .519 || .450 || .742 || 8.1 || 1.2 || .1 || .6 || 13.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2020 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 13 || 13 || 29.9 || .505 || .475 || .929 || 4.8 || 1.6 || .8 || .1 || 11.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2021 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 19 || 18 || 31.8 || .430 || .375 || .750 || 4.3 || 1.5 || .5 || .5 || 12.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2023 | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 3 || 2 || 22.8 || .345 || .167 || 1.000 || 4.0 || .0 || .3 || .3 || 8.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2024 | style="text-align:left;"|Cleveland | 9 || 1 || 15.3 || .458 || .391 || .667 || 2.8 || .3 || .4 || .0 || 6.1 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Overall Playoff Career | 76 || 46 || 28.4|| .433|| .406|| .771||4.9||1.2||.5||.3||11.8

University Career

|35||22||18.5||.495||.400||.604||4.7||1.1||1.0||.3||7.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 2009–10 
| style="text-align:left;" | Kansas 
|36||33||24.7||\.570||.375||.660||6.1||1.0||.9||.3||12.8
|- 
| style="text-align:left;" | 2010–11 
| style="text-align:left;" | Kansas 
| 38||36||28.3||.570||'.342'||.688||.7'6'||.16'|' '.8'||.6'|' 17'2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style='text-align:center;' colspan='2' | Total Collegiate Career 
|109||91||24'||.555'||'.358'||'.660'||6'.2'||1'.3'||'.9'||'.4'||12'.6'

Personal Background

Morris is the younger twin by seven minutes to his identical brother, Markieff Morris. Commonly referred to as "Mook" and "Flask Dad," he supports the Philadelphia Eagles, whereas Markieff is a Dallas Cowboys enthusiast.

Their son, Marcus Jr., was born in July of 2018, prompting Morris to add "Morris Sr." on his jersey.

On January 2, 2015, the Morris twins and former teammates Goran and Zoran Dragić made history by becoming the first pair of sibling duos to play together in an NBA game.

Legal challenges have influenced their careers: In February 2012, Morris entered a diversion program following battery charges resulting from an incident at a Kansas nightclub during a basketball rivalry event.

In January of 2015, both Marcus and Markieff faced aggravated assault allegations linked to a confrontation with a mentor; although they were acquitted in October of 2017, this situation contributed to Phoenix Suns trading Marcus in July of 2015 and Markieff in February of 2016.

On January 11, 2024, Morris was honored with the key to the City of Philadelphia in recognition of his athletic achievements and community efforts through the Family Over Everything Foundation, which aids underserved populations.

In July of 2025, Morris was detained in Florida on fraud accusations involving $265,000 in bounced checks; these charges were subsequently dropped in August after he resolved gambling debts owed to Las Vegas casinos Wynn and MGM Grand.

External links