When Markieff Morris arrived in Dallas after the Mavericks acquired him in a Feb. 6 trade with the Brooklyn Nets, he
immediately felt right at home.
After all, Morris already had so many connections to the Mavs that he built throughout his 12-year NBA career. For starters, coach Jason Kidd was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers when Morris and the Lakers won the 2020 NBA title. Mavs assistant coach Jared Dudley also was a teammate of Morris’ during that championship season.
In addition, Dudley and Morris were also teammates on the Phoenix Suns (2011-13) and Washington Wizards (2016). Also, Mavs assistant coach Sean Sweeney was an assistant coach with Detroit when Morris played in 2019-20 for the Pistons.
Morris also was with Washington when Kristi Toliver was an assistant coach there in the 2018-19 season. And Mavs assistant coach Greg St. Jean was a player development coach and advance scout for the Lakers in 2020-21 while Morris played there.
So when Morris came to the Mavs in the blockbuster trade that also brought highly skilled guard Kyrie Irving to Dallas, the transition was seamless.
“I’ve been around these guys before,” Morris said. “We’ve got some camaraderie. It’s super easy, because you have these teams where it’s non-communicative.
“No shots at Brooklyn, but that was like one of those type of teams where there was not too much communication on what’s going on day-to-day. And I come here and they’re direct with me about playing, direct with me about working out, direct with me about getting my body right and getting on the path to being able to contribute to the team.”
A 6-9, 245-pound power forward, Morris has yet to play in a game for the Mavs. But he said he expects to be ready when the Mavs host the 
Lakers on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised nationally on ABC.
“I know a lot of people are ready for me to play and thinking I should be playing, which it’s going to come,” Morris said. “I’ve got to be ready because I know, me personally, going into the playoffs it’ll be a different intensity.
“So the first time I step on the court I want to be ready to play at a high level. And that’s what I’m doing now – getting my body right to be able to play at that high level that they will see very soon.”
Morris is a twin. His brother, Marcus, plays for the Los Angeles Clippers. And Markieff told Mavs.com something that he said very few people know.
“We’re actually fraternal (twins),” Markieff said. “But people think we’re identical, so we run with it.”
Being a twin, Markieff admits, has its advantages.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he said. “(Marcus is) my best friend, he’s always somebody that I can talk to, and he’s dealing with the same things. Not only are we twins, but we’re both in the same profession, so I can get my joy from watching him play and me not playing as much, and he can get his joy from watching me play.
“He’s always in my ear about getting right and he’s always somebody that’s pushing me when he feels like you’re lacking in something. It’s just so much easier in life to have someone that’s just like you to reach out to him or lean on. It’s like having a second set of eyes or a second set of ears.”
Growing up in Philadelphia and attending college at Kansas, Morris said he and his twin did the normal shenanigans that twins do.
“We switched classes all the time,” he said. “(Marcus) was better at reading and I was better at math, so we did that all the time.
“You couldn’t tell us apart at all. You had to dig deep for that one.”
Twins are a fraternity that no one else can relate to, Morris said. And the NBA has its share of twins.
Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks) and his twin brother, Robin Lopez (Cleveland Cavaliers), have been mainstays in the NBA since 2008. Cody Martin (Charlotte Hornets) and his twin brother, Caleb Martin (Miami Heat), are in their fourth season in the NBA.
And Heat guard Victor Oladipo has a twin sister. In fact, Markieff played the 2021-22 season in Miami with both Caleb Martin and Oladipo, and also was a teammate of Robin Lopez in Phoenix during the 2011-’12 season.
“Me and Caleb, we were real close,” Morris said. “Obviously his brother is in the league, so it was easy for us to talk about (being a twin).”
After playing on the same high school and college teams together, the Morris brothers had to go their separate ways when the Suns made 
Markieff the No. 13th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft and the Houston Rockets made Marcus Morris the No. 14th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft.
“We came (to the NBA) in a lockout year, so we had an extra four months, five months together, so we kind of prepared ourselves for (the separation),” Markieff said. “Early on (in the NBA), he wasn’t playing, so that’s kind of like the toughness of being separated, because it was hard for him. Not only that we’re separated, but we both get to do something that we love, and he wasn’t getting a chance to.
“So that kind of like put a little strain on being apart. But as you gradually get older, and we both got famous, it’s just second nature now. But if it was up to us, we would be on the same team.”
While the Morris brothers had folks seeing double, how close are they actually?
“We live in the same community in Florida,” said the 33-year old Markieff, who is seven minutes older than Marcus. “We live right around the corner from each other.
“His kids and my kids are always together. We preach family, so we want to stay as close as possible.”
Markieff and Marcus were able to reunite when they were Phoenix Suns teammates during the 2013-’15 seasons before the business of basketball had them playing on different teams yet again. For now, Markieff said the greatest misconception about him and Marcus is that they’re dirty players.
“I know they said a bunch of crazy stuff about me, and then when guys get around me they’re like, ‘You’re not anything like they said you
were,’ “ Markieff said. “People confuse me and my brother with how we play on the court with how we are off the court.
“On the court, yeah, we’re some tough guys. We’re from Philadelphia. We know how to play tough. People might see it as dirty. Call it what you want. But if it was in the 90s you wouldn’t call it that. Now that it’s 2023, now it’s called dirty. But I done seen people get punched in the face, I done seen them do battles between Boston and the Lakers, Boston and Detroit. When that was going on, that was cool. Now it’s a showtime game and anything that happens, they’re all dirty players.”
While Markieff and Marcus are like two peas in a pod, they do have this major disagreement that apparently will never change. Markieff is a big-time Dallas Cowboys fan, while Marcus is a big-time Philadelphia Eagles fans.
And NFL followers know Cowboys and Eagles mix together like oil and water.
“We like all the same stuff, and that’s probably the only thing that we don’t see eye-to-eye on,” Markieff said. “But it’s good for a sibling rivalry. I wear my (Cowboys’) jersey and he wears his (Eagles) jersey, and I talk trash to him.
“I talked trash to him when (the Eagles) lost the Super Bowl (earlier this month to the Kansas City Chiefs), even though I wanted them to win, because I’m still from Philly. I don’t hate the Eagles. They hate the Cowboys. I’m like, ‘I want y’all to win. I just don’t want y’all to beat us.’ ”
Although he grew up in Philadelphia, Markieff’s love for the Cowboys run deep.
“I grew up in the 90s,” he said. “The 90s was Cowboys Nation. You saw the star everywhere. I remember being young and actually seeing Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Darren Wooden and all those guys. And still to this day. I’ve gone through 20 bad years of getting talked so much stuff to.
“Obviously, I’m from Philly and they hate the Cowboys, but there are Cowboys fans everywhere. It’s 50-50 in Philly. It’s not all Eagles’ fans. It’s 50 percent Cowboys, too. They’re still America’s team.”
Told that some members of the Cowboys are expected to attend Sunday’s Mavs-Lakers game, Markieff sounded like a kid opening up presents on Christmas morning.
“I’m going to meet them, too,” he said. “I’m not one of those, ‘I’m too cool’ fans. I’m one of those guys where I see Micah Parsons, I see Trevon Diggs, I see Dak (Prescott), I see (Leighton) Vander Esch., DeMarcus Lawrence.
“I’ll go down the line with my guys. I’m just a big Cowboys fan. I always have been. I can’t see myself liking another team.”
As far as his own team – the Mavs – are concerned, Markieff has high hopes for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.
“I feel like we’re a sleeper team,” he said. “Other than Kai and Luka (Doncic), nobody really knows what to expect from everybody else.”
Whatever it is anybody else expects from the Mavs this season, Markieff Morris is feeling right at home.
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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