Markieff Morris

Markieff Morris (/mɑːrˈkiːf/ mar-KEEF; born September 2, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks before being drafted 13th overall in the 2011 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns. Morris won an NBA championship with the Lakers in 2020.

Morris was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has four brothers, including twin Marcus. Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Morris was listed as the No. 17 power forward and the No. 49 player in the nation in 2008.

Morris enrolled at the University of Kansas, where he majored in American studies. As a junior with the Jayhawks in 2011, Morris was named second-team all-conference in the Big 12. Both he and his brother, Marcus, signed with a sports agent from Los Angeles and announced that they would enter the 2011 NBA draft. Markieff was picked to the Fifth Team All-America by Fox Sports after his junior season.

Morris was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 13th pick in the 2011 NBA draft. His twin brother, Marcus was drafted by the Houston Rockets five minutes later.

On January 8, 2012, Morris recorded his first professional double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in a blowout 109–93 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. On January 18, Morris had his first professional start in the NBA against the New York Knicks. However, due to a stomach virus, Morris only played for five minutes, scoring three points and grabbing two steals before Channing Frye took over the power forward position in a 91–88 victory. On February 8, 2012, Morris was named to the 2012 Rising Stars challenge, making him the first Suns player since Amar'e Stoudemire to appear in the Rookie Challenge. Morris played for Team Shaq, recording 12 points and six rebounds. On March 25, he recorded a then career-high 22 points to tie Marcin Gortat as the game's leading scorer in a 108–83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Due to the 2011 NBA lockout, Morris had his first Summer League stint in 2012, where he averaged 19.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. After this stint, Morris amassed 13 pounds of muscle while keeping his weight of 245 pounds. After scoring a then season-high 16 points against the defending champion Miami Heat, Morris made his first start of the season on November 21, 2012. Morris topped his season high in points by three and tied Marcin Gortat with seven rebounds in a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Two days later, Morris recorded a then career-high 23 points to lead the Suns to a 111–108 overtime victory over the New Orleans Hornets. On December 6, 2012, he recorded a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 15 points in a 97–94 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

On February 21, 2013, Morris' twin brother Marcus was traded to the Phoenix Suns, reuniting them after two years of playing for separate teams. This also marked the second time the Suns had twin brothers playing on the same team, with Dick and Tom Van Arsdale being the first twins to play together during the 1976–77 season. The Morris twins went on to become the first brothers ever to start alongside each other on the same team.

On November 6, 2013, Morris tied his career-high 23 points and added 12 rebounds in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He went on to post a new career-high two days later, scoring 28 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 114–103 victory over the Denver Nuggets. After scoring 23 points in a 101–94 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Morris became the third player since 1989 to shoot over 75% from the field in three consecutive games with at least 12 attempts each game; Dwight Howard and Charles Barkley were the first two players to accomplish this. Morris was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the November 4–11, 2013 period after averaging 22.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and leading the league for field goal percentage (.698). Morris had 27 points and grab 15 rebounds in a 99–90 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, making Morris the first player since Yao Ming in 2002 to score at least 27 points and grab 15 rebounds off the bench. Because of his improvements throughout the 2013–14 NBA season as a sixth man, Morris ended up being a candidate for both the NBA Most Improved Player Award and the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.