Former Celtics forward Marcus Morris fired agent Rich Paul after the newly signed New York Knick missed out on a much bigger offer from the Los Angeles Clippers, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
Morris is the second NBA player in recent days to fire the agent who represents elite players including LeBron James and Anthony Davis, after Nerlens Noel also decided to hire a new representative. (RELATED: New York Knicks Reportedly Didn’t Offer Kevin Durant A Max Contract Because Of His Achilles Injuries)
According to a source, Marcus Morris and Nerlens Noel have fired agent Rich Paul.
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) July 13, 2019
Morris, who entered the free agency period coming off a fantastic season averaging 13.9 points per game, was expected to be one of the bigger names on the power forward market.
Morris accepted a two-year, $20 million deal early on in the process with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. As a surprise to the Spurs, Morris had the offer pulled and instead opted to sign a one-year, $15 million deal with the New York Knicks.
With the Clippers’ reported offer of $41 million and a chance to contend for a title with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, many would anticipate LA as the easy decision for Morris, but something reportedly broke down within discussions between Paul and his client.
If the reported offer from the Clippers is indeed true, Morris’ decision to fire Paul was an extremely easy decision. Rarely do you see a player sign a contract and then immediately terminate it for another team unless there are problems with an agent.
The good news for Morris is his contract expires after this year, so worst case scenario is he has to play one year in New York with the miserable Knicks.
His contract being only a one-year deal is also an interesting trade chip for the Knicks at the NBA trade deadline. I would not be surprised to see Morris traded to a contender before the NBA playoffs.
Look on the bright side Marcus, you are a 29-year-old veteran forward coming off arguably the best year of your career with an opportunity on a depleted Knicks roster to put up even bigger numbers heading into 2020 free agency.
