Phoenix finally unloads Markieff Morris, sending him to Washington

The Washington Wizards aren’t out of the running for Kevin Durant this summer, but this can’t be the payoff they’d hoped for when 2015-16 started.

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The Wizards acquired disgruntled (to put it rather mildly) Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris on Thursday in perhaps the most prominent deal of a punchless NBA trade deadline. Washington gave up Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair, and a protected first round pick in the transaction, as first reported by The Vertical’s Shams Charania. The Suns are careening toward the lottery yet again while working with a winless interim head coach in Earl Watson, and they’ve finally followed through on what Morris has been begging for since last summer.

Somewhat. Markieff had hoped to be reunited with his twin brother Marcus Morris in Detroit, but the Pistons were unwilling to bring the pair back together; possibly wary of what little the pairing did to encourage good behavior in 2014-15 (both underachieved and drew numerous technical fouls on the court; while drawing felony assault charges off of it). The steal of a deal that brought tweener forward Tobias Harris to Detroit on Wednesday helped secure the Pistons’ motivations.

Left with nothing, the Suns somehow turned Markieff into two expiring contracts and a first-rounder; with the protections as yet unreported. Humphries is still a serviceable player and Blair (though he’s struggled this season in limited time) is only 26, so there is a chance the Suns could keep both around on their relatively miniscule $4.6 and $2 million deals for next season (considering this counts as a relative pittance in a salary cap that figures to vault over $90 million in 2016-17), but all signs point to Phoenix deciding not to sign off on both players’ non-guaranteed deals this summer.

This allows the Suns to approach $30 million in salary cap space this summer. On top of that, as was the case when the team dealt Marcin Gortat to Ernie Grunfeld’s Wizards in 2013, the Suns will receive a first round pick for their troubles. Not a bad haul for a player in Morris that has not only phoned in 2015-16 to date, but was the league’s most obvious trade candidate since last July.

The Wizards are taking on Morris’ $7.4 million salary for next season, his $8 million salary for 2017-18 and his $8.6 million mark the next season. On paper, this is a bargain deal, but considering his on and off the court struggles it’s an uneasy leap to justify taking a flier on someone that hasn’t had his head on straight in two years. Worse, though the Wizards will still have enough room under the cap this summer to nearly lob a maximum salary at free agent Kevin Durant, the deal does limit the team’s flexibility somewhat in a realm where every penny counts.

Washington is only three games out of the playoff bracket in the East, in a season that badly needs to see the Wizards make the playoff as they make their Big Durant Pitch. The seventh (Chicago) and eighth (Charlotte) teams feature rosters that are injured and reeling, and the postseason is within reach, and a return to 2013-14 form for Morris would provide Phoenix with the frontcourt versatility they’d hoped for upon starting this season.

Again, on paper, this is a win-win for both teams. The Suns acquire more cap space (in a league that will see endless teams with cap space this summer) and remove a locker room cancer (as if it’s not seven months too late), and the Wizards get a versatile big forward (who can’t hit threes and who hasn’t hit long twos all that well in two years) that can help steady the rotation (after two seasons of making life hellish in the land of the dry heat).

So, clearly, there are caveats. And this isn’t how both teams saw 2015-16 as working out, but this is how it sometimes goes in the NBA. The summer, as always, will be when both squads will have to answer for past missteps. Everyone involved in this deal has a lot of making up to do.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops