Report: Marcus Morris parting ways with Rich Paul, Klutch Sports after tumultuous free agency
After a turbulent free agency in which he backed out of one agreement, passed on a bigger deal and later wound up on the New York Knicks, forward Marcus Morris reportedly wants a new agent.
According to a report from the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy on Sunday, Morris and Rich Paul of Klutch Sports have agreed to part ways.
Although the reasons for the split — and who initiated it — are unclear, there were plenty of strange factors surrounding Morris’ free agency with some more-than fishy aspects.
What happened during Marcus Morris’ free agency?
Morris was coming off a strong season in which he averaged 13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds as a starter for the Boston Celtics. Although the Celtics seemed happy with him, they poured all their free agency resources into Kemba Walker and had to let Morris walk.
Initially, Morris agreed to a two-year, $20 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs, but even after the free-agent moratorium ended, he backed out of the deal and landed a one-year, $15 million deal with the Knicks.
Mixed in with all of that is a report from Bondy that Morris and Paul turned down a three-year, $41 million offer from the Los Angeles Clippers, which would have given him the biggest deal and best team to play on.
Something sounds fishy with this divorce
Flip-flopping on agreements is hardly abnormal in NBA free agency, especially with the bizarre moratorium that nobody follows, and choosing the Knicks over the Spurs makes some sense from a purely financial standpoint. Although there was less money guaranteed overall, Morris needed to eclipse only a $5 million salary next offseason to earn more money.
Still, it’s odd that the Spurs reportedly pulled their offer to Morris and handed a new contract to another forward represented by Klutch Sports, Trey Lyles. It’s impossible to say whether this was a conflict of interest for Paul without further details, but it remains concerning.
Stranger yet is the deal Morris reportedly turned down from the Clippers. That may have only been an offer before bringing Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to town was within reach, but the team still used that salary-cap space to trade for Moe Harkless.
The two easiest explanations for the split are that Morris was upset with how his free agency went and/or that Paul didn’t want to look bad to teams because Morris backed out of a deal. One thing is clear: Paul remains a winner because he’ll retain his agent’s cut of the deal even though he no longer represents Morris since he negotiated the deal days before leaving.
More from Yahoo Sports:
