Gregg Popovich again slams Marcus Morris, Knicks ahead of season opener
Gregg Popovich clearly isn’t over how Marcus Morris and the New York Knicks handled free agency this summer.
Popovich, ahead of the Spurs’ season opener against the Knicks in San Antonio, was asked whether he thinks the Knicks acted unprofessionally when they swooped in and signed Morris after he had already agreed to a deal with the Spurs.
In true Popovich fashion, he had a great response.
Reporter: Did the Knicks act unprofessionally with Marcus Morris situation.
Popovich: “Who signed him?”
Reporter: The Knicks.
Popovich: “There you go.”— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) October 23, 2019
Morris was a free agent this summer after spending two seasons with the Boston Celtics, and had reached a two-year, $20 million deal with the Spurs. Yet just days later, after the Knicks increased their cap space, Morris reneged on that deal and reached a one-year, $15 million deal with New York instead.
Popovich said the move left the Spurs “blindsided,” and said it was handled “unprofessionally on a couple of different levels.” Morris didn’t say much about the deal during the Knicks media day last month either, only that his “free agency didn’t go as planned” and that the Knicks “embrace guys like myself.”
Naturally, Morris’ first game with the Knicks will be against the Spurs in San Antonio. While the situation likely wasn’t handled the way he wanted, Morris insisted he doesn’t have any ill will toward Popovich.
“I have nothing but respect for Pop,” Morris said Wednesday, via the San Antonio Express-News. “It is what it is.”
The 30-year-old — who averaged 13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds last year in Boston, his eighth in the league — fully expects some angry reactions from Spurs fans at the AT&T Center, too.
“If I was them, I’d boo me too,” Morris said, via the New York Post. “I can understand. We have disagreements in life.”
But, if nothing else, Morris is just happy to get the game in San Antonio out of the way early.
“In the first game, it’s great,” Morris said, via the New York Post. “I don’t have to go back there, I don’t have to see it anymore.
“Like I said, great organization, nothing bad about them.”
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