Markieff Morris: "I am not going to be there" with Phoenix Suns next season

There have been rumors and speculation concerning the future of Markieff Morris on the Phoenix Suns, after the team traded his twin brother, Marcus Morris, to the Detroit Pistons on July 9th of this year.

However, little has been said directly by Markieff since then; save for the occasional cryptic message on Twitter. Well today, Markieff decided to end all of the speculation and go on the record for the first time. And, well...It's about what you would expect.

"One thing for sure, I am not going to be there", Markieff said to a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer this morning after. He continued, "If you want to put that out there, you can put that out...I am not going to be there, at all.".

While Markieff went on to clarify that he will still show up for training camp with the Suns if he isn't traded by then, because he will be..and I quote..."a professional", he left little doubt that he has every intention of forcing his way out of Phoenix if need be.

"But it won't get that far...I'm going to be out by then, should be."

The Suns of course still have Markieff under contract on a four year, $32 million contract, so it isn't as easy as that, of course. Phoenix likely wants to be rid of Keef as much as Keef wants to be rid of the Suns, but they also have to find a trade partner who is willing to make a reasonable offer.

Suns GM Ryan McDonough was able to make the best out of a very bad situation with former point guard, Goran Dragic, just weeks before the trade deadline last season. Let's just hope he can do the same in this situation as well.

Stay tuned.

Added by Dave King:

For his part, Markieff refuses to believe the Morris twins brought this on themselves.

"They can tell you anything about the [felony aggravated assault] case and all of that," Morris said of his brother being traded. "Nah, it has nothing to do with that. That's just all disrespect and all unprofessional. They called us unprofessional. That's what that is, unprofessional. No one is trying to hear that."

But hey, it's possible it's about Marcus berating the coach. It's possible it's about Markieff complaining about the fans, dissing required post game media time. It's possible it's about both of them berating the officials all season long, and generally acting as if they'd already arrived and should be treated like stars. It's possible it's about them disrespecting their team by acting the way they did all season.

But hey, sure, maybe it's just a salary dump and the Morris twins were perfect and are now being disrespected by the team who put them together and gave them a chance to succeed.

"As far as I'm concerned, I never was a Phoenix Sun," Marcus said. "It's a new start for me. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to take care of business, expand my game and get the height I know I can get to."

Never mind.