Spencer Hawes (Photo : Jonathan Daniel | Getty Images Sport)
The NBA trade rumors heated up in late in the summer with Markieff Morris because of his trade demand.
The Phoenix Suns might have made the right move by not sending him off when they had no leverage, but how long can they keep this up?
According to Arizona Sports, one of the reasons why the Suns could not pull the trigger is that the Houston Rockets, their immediate trade partner who has reportedly offered Terrence Jones and Corey Brewer, are still hesitating.
"The Rockets have reported interest in acquiring Morris with an offer of swingman Corey Brewer and forward Terrence Jones going to the Suns, (h/t ESPN's Marc Stein) but to trigger that deal, Houston must make sure any other trades on its end work in concert," AS said.
Brewer has a trade restriction that will only allow him to be traded on January 15. Another reason that was discussed was Kevin Pelton of ESPN suggesting that Houston may want to make a bigger trade that would include Dwight Howard in the deal with Tyson Chandler joining Markieff to Texas.
While there were already numerous trades involving Markieff Morris that circulated since the off-season, Basketball Insiders recently unveiled a possible destination.
While the Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans and even LA Lakers were previously explored, the Charlotte Hornets may become the new dark horse.
"Hawes is a 7'1 stretch-four who is shooting 37.5 percent from deep in limited attempts," Eric Saar of Basketball Insiders points out. "Charlotte would do this deal because Morris is a better overall player than Hawes and the Hornets may believe that a change of scenery will get Morris back on track. The motivation for Phoenix would be the proverbial 'addition by subtraction,' as well as adding a big who can shoot for a relatively small annual salary."
The Hornets' center/forward could be a low risk move for the Suns as the simply get rid of Markieff with only a $5.6 million dent, not to mention Hawes is not a bad player this season.
