The NBA trade rumor season is in full swing now and one of the more prominent names involved in the rumors lately has been Markieff Morris. Morris demanded a trade in the offseason from the Phoenix Suns but never got his wish and now he is involved in even more rumors after a poor start to the season. There was talk earlier in the week that the Houston Rockets may have interest in Morris but they are unwilling to trade Terrence Jones so now the New Orleans Pelicans have emerged as a possible trade partner for Phoenix, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
The report states that the two teams have had preliminary talks about a trade but the fact that Morris is facing felony aggravated assault charges that are currently pending has made the Pelicans pause a bit. Despite the charges the Pelicans reportedly really like the idea of pairing Morris up with Anthony Davis in the frontcourt.
The Suns previously had been unwilling to move Morris because he had just signed a four year $32 million extension that kicked in this season but now they seem more likely to move on from him as head coach Jeff Hornacek has moved him down on the depth chart. Morris was a DNP- coaches decision on Sunday and played just seven minutes on Monday so he has clearly fallen out of favor.
This deal would only potentially happen if the Pelicans were willing to part ways with Ryan Anderson and they reportedly are. The Pelicans had been reluctant to add Anderson's name in trade talks previously but now they seem more open to it. Anderson is having a much better year than Morris this season but Morris is signed for the next three seasons while Anderson is in the final year of his deal and hasn't said he would commit to New Orleans long-term. If Anderson tells the Pelicans he will commit long-term then this deal will be dead but until then it is a possibility.
If these talks continue and the trade picks up some steam it would certainly make sense for both sides. New Orleans would clearly not feel like Anderson was going to commit to them long-term so they would be getting a similar player who is under control for longer while Phoenix would get the better player in the deal who would help right away as they are a team that thinks they can compete for a playoff spot in the Western Conference despite the fact that they have lost eight of their last ten games.
