Nets, Morris reportedly have ‘mutual interest’

League sources tell NetsDaily that the Nets and Markieff Morris have mutual interest.

Morris, a 32-year-old 6’8” power forward, is an unrestricted free agent and the Nets currently have two openings on their 15-man roster. Overall, the Nets have six openings on their 20-man training camp roster. With the Kevin Durant trade request rescinded and the Nets not need to keep roster spots open, Brooklyn is expected to move soon on signings. A Morris signing would presumably be for the vets minimum.

The twin brother of the Clippers Marcus Morris, Morris is a 12-year NBA veteran who played for Miami last season where he only played 17 games due mostly to injury. In 17.5 minutes per game, the Philadelphia native averaged 7.6 points on 47/33/89 shooting splits and 2.6 rebounds. For his career, Morris has averaged 10.9 points on 44/35/78 splits. In recent years, playing for the Heat and before that the Lakers, Pistons and Thunder, he has come off the bench, starting only 61 games in five seasons.

He played a key role in the Lakers 2020 NBA championship run, particularly in the conference semi-finals when L.A. head coach Frank Vogel inserted him in a starting role. In the Game 2 win, Morris came off the bench and contributed 16 points in 23 minutes while shooting 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from deep.

Morris also developed a reputation as an enforcer coming off the bench. Last November, he and Nikola Jokic got into an altercation that cost him a $50,000 fine and Jokic a one-game suspension. The altercation also led to a Twitter battle between Marcus Morris and the non-basketball playing brothers of the Nuggets MVP.

Markieff and Marcus Morris were back-to-back lottery picks coming out of Kansas in 2011.

Meanwhile, Mike Scotto of Hoopshype reports that the Nets do not have interest in either Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony, but have nosed around Tristan Thompson who played with Kyrie Irving in Cleveland during their 2016 championship run.

• NBA rumors: What’s next for the Nets with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving returning? - Michael Scotto - Hoopshype