Suns Deal Marcus Morris; Prepare Way for Aldridge
By Blake Benard
Further showing their commitment to LaMarcus Aldridge, the Phoenix Suns have dealt forward Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Danny Green to the Detroit Pistons for a 2020 second round draft pick.
Mar 27, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris (11) and Phoenix Suns forward Marcus Morris (15) talk during a timeout against the Portland Trail Blazers at US Airways Center. The Trail Blazers won the game 87-81. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
The move clears up about $7 million dollars in cap space as the Suns continue to prepare the way for a potential sign-and-trade with All-Star free agent LaMarcus Aldridge. While there are no guarantees that Aldridge will sign with the Suns, he has expressed his interest in the team after meeting with them yesterday afternoon.
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Right now, it seems Aldridge’s choice has been narrowed to either the Suns, Spurs, or returning to the Trail Blazers although it seems he may have another meeting with the Lakers. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Miami Heat have even popped up on the rumor mill as landing some interest.
Still, the Suns don’t have enough cap space to sign Aldridge straight up. But after this trade, the Suns could explore sign-and-trade deals with both the Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail Blazers. Since they have already trade Marcus Morris, the next logical choice would be his twin brother Markieff who has already expressed his dismay at his brother being traded. Markieff is in the second year of a 4-year $32 million dollar extension. Other options to free up enough money for Aldridge could include unloading the contract of fan-favorite PJ Tucker.
Rule out a trade of Eric Bledsoe. He was in the Suns meetings with Aldridge and the front office has furiously denied any desire to trade their star point guard. Hence leaving Tucker and Morris as the most likely Suns to be traded at this point.
Marcus Morris was acquired from the Houston Rockets back in the middle of the 2012-2013 season. The hope was so pair him up with his twin brother Marieff as they had payed together at Kansas. For a while it worked. Marcus finished his first season with the Suns averaging 5.7 ppg. He developed into a sold bench player throughout the next two seasons and in 2014-2015 he averaged 10.4 ppg and 4.5 rpg.
Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger landed with the Suns last year, but Granger was sidelined for most of the season with a injury and Bullock played few minutes.