Mavs Free Agent Markieff Morris Vows Revenge on Nikola Jokic: 'He's Gonna Get His'

Mavs big man Markieff Morris still wants his revenge against Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic for the 2021 incident.

DALLAS — When Markieff Morris was a member of the Miami Heat during the 2021-22 NBA season, he became sidelined for 58 games after being hit with his back turned to Nikola Jokic in a game against the Denver Nuggets. 

Jokic was suspended for one game and was fined $50,000 for the incident. Morris spoke about the situation during a recent appearance on the"All The Smoke Podcast" with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson — calling the contact by Jokic a "sucker shot."

"Sucker shot. That’s what we call it in my hood," Morris said of Jokic's hit. "So the shot was, it was a little hard. It was like a little whiplash. So I mean, to be 350, catching me off guard, it really ain’t do s***.

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post

“But you know, at the time, I was a little off. It was so more with the Miami Heat. They was just trying to protect me from, you know, against me from myself. But I was cleared to play like two weeks after that. They just held me out. So it really wasn’t one of those things where I was injured or in pain or anything like that.”

Morris continued: “Took a sucker shot. They call it snuck. He snuck me. It was a sucker shot. He’s gonna get his thought. Don’t trip.”

Morris, who was included in the midseason trade that sent Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks, is expected to re-sign with the team on a one-year, non-guaranteed contract. He was unable to consistently crack the rotation last season, averaging 4.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 8.8 minutes per game over eight appearances. 

The Mavs are scheduled to face off against Jokic's Nuggets squad early in the season in a Nov. 3 matchup at Ball Arena, then again on Dec. 18 in Denver, then lastly, on Mar. 17 in Dallas.