Marcus Morris talks up Phoenix’s ‘betrayal’ of him and his twin

In July 2015, less than a year after the two signed contract extensions with Phoenix, the Suns dealt Marcus Morris to Detroit; breaking up the partnership he’d forged with twin brother and former Sun Markieff Morris.

The two had combined for 25 technical fouls the season before, the Suns missed the playoffs by a wide margin, the twins drew felony assault charges during Phoenix’s too-early offseason, and Phoenix thought it had an outside chance at signing star big man LaMarcus Aldridge.

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The move both cleared cap space for the (failed) pursuit of the free agent All-Star, and it removed a headache from the locker room. In the months that followed, though, brother Markieff threatened to sit out until he was dealt (when it became apparent that he would miss out on paychecks, that went away rather quickly), acted just as combatively, and was eventually dealt himself earlier in February.

In a recent talk with Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher, it appears as if Morris is still rather unhappy:

What is the biggest misconception about what has transpired since you’ve been split up? The answer is the same. “Everybody thinking that we’re upset because we don’t get to play with each other,” says Marcus, legs stretched in front of him after a Pistons practice in late January. “Kieff can’t deal with adversity? We’re from north Philadelphia. This isn’t adversity. This is betrayal.”

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“What bothers me most are two things,” says Marcus. “I sat down with the owner and we agreed guys were going to get paid more, but they told us, ‘Don’t get upset, we’re a family, we’re helping each other.’ Everybody in this league is concerned about money. We were looking for stability and the chance to be part of something.”

Players can’t negotiate a no-trade clause into their contracts until they’ve been with the same team for four years (Markieff had just finished his third year in Phoenix, and Marcus just his first) and once they’ve spent eight years in the league (the brothers were entering their fourth season).

Is that lack of permanence – the idea that you have uproot your family just because your general manager wants guard depth or a shot at signing LaMarcus Aldridge – unsettling?

Surely, but this is what you literally bargain for when you decide to sign for as many years as possible, gaining financial security along the way. If players don’t like it, and want to gain some control over their futures, then signing a one-year deal every summer is always an option. Instead, players sign for as much as possible for as long as possible, and these are the things that happen.

Of course, there is always the rumor regarding the twins’ contracts to consider.

It appears as if the Morris twins did not “sign for as much as possible,” with the Suns laying out a combined four years and $52 million and letting the brothers divvy it up (Markieff took $32 million of it). If that rumor is true (as just about everyone in the NBA considers it to be), then one would think the Suns would act in good faith and not disrupt the pairing after the twins compromised in order to be able to stick together as teammates.

One would also have to consider the way the twins acted in 2014-15, though, and whether or not the brothers took advantage of that trust.

The two were endlessly combative to the referees, coaching staff, and fellow teammates. If Suns GM Ryan McDonough felt guilty about breaking up the Morris brothers’ dream scenario, he probably argued it away in his own head after thinking about how untenable and unlikable the twins made life for his team in 2014-15. To say little about the off-court allegations.

Did the Suns “betray” the Morris family by breaking an unwritten (because it would be so, so NBA-illegal) understanding about keeping them together? Maybe. How much betrayal came from the Morris side of the table during 2014-15, though? Who crossed whom first?

It stinks to be traded, at any time of the year. No player, even if they’re dealt for Stephen Curry or LeBron James, wants to feel as if any other player (or, in Marcus’ case in the Suns’ chase for Aldridge, potential player) is any better than them. To be dealt away from a coveted professional partnership with your twin brother, no less, has to hurt even more. It can’t be fun.

That said, the Morris twins didn’t look like they were having all that much fun in 2014-15. That, and not some devilish brand of betrayal instinct, was the reason the two were broken up.

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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