NBA champion Markieff Morris has spent 14 years in the NBA across various franchises. In the summer of 2021, he joined the Miami Heat, but he played only 17 games before being shut down and traded months later. In a shocking admission on "The OGs" podcast, Morris revealed the truth about his short tenure in Miami and why he was never given a fair chance to succeed there.
“I never really got the opportunity to play again," said Morris. "They f**ked me over there because they made me work so hard to get back when there was a whole misconception about how the injury really went. It was a two-week injury. I got cleared in two weeks, but they made it seem, because Miami wouldn’t allow me back on the court, that I was injured for six months."
The Heat claimed that Morris was not healthy enough to return to action that season, but Morris says it was nothing more than whiplash that he experienced during the game in question.
"It was whiplash, and I was right back practicing on the regular. Miami didn’t really want me back on the court; they basically ruled me out and said, 'No, you’re not allowed back on the court with these injuries.' But I played four more years after that, and I’m playing now.”
The incident that sidelined Morris was a brutal and heated exchange with Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic. Late in a very physical game, Morris gave Jokic a cheap shot with his elbow that completely set him off.
In a rare fit of rage from the Joker, he came up behind Morris and shoved him in the back, which jerked his neck backward before causing him to crumple to the floor in pain. It sparked outrage across the NBA, drawing threats from Jimmy Butler and public condemnation from head coach Erik Spoelstra.
It was a dangerous play from Jokic, and he did express regret after watching a clip of the encounter. Besides sparking a personal rivalry between the Jokic brothers and Morris twins, the exchange raised concern from the Heat, specifically involving a potential neck injury that can be caused by those types of collisions.
It was reported back then that Morris was eager to return to action, but the Heat refused to let him play, and he sat on the bench for the rest of the season before leaving for the Nets the very next season.
Today, there are no lingering issues from that violent encounter, but Morris does feel that he was robbed of his chance to succeed in Miami. Things were never the same for him after that troubling season, with his minutes and stats taking a dip across the board.
From Morris' perspective, it seems like the Heat just didn't want him to play, as they refused any attempts to convince them of his health. At the time, he was a solid role-player for them and might have made a difference in their run to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Celtics in five games.
Sadly, we'll never get the chance to find out what really happened, or what could have been had Morris been allowed to return. While the incident may have looked ugly, it wasn't anything serious in the end, and the Heat's notoriously stubborn approach may have hurt them more than it helped.
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