It was the bump that echoed everywhere. 2021 saw the most controversial injury in NBA history since Larry Bird blew his back out for good while building a driveway for his mom. So pardon the Morris and Jokic sibling collectives for not burying this beef. The Morris Twins were on The OGs podcast this week. Which, of course, meant fans were going to ask Markieff Morris about that Miami Heat game that changed the trajectory of his life.

With Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller there, a fan asked, “Markieff, are you able to speak on the post Jokic injury? A lot of us fans expected you to come back and continue to make an impact.” 

UD was yet to retire then. So Markief prodded him to confirm what really happened while he said, “The Heat put me out for the time being. You was there. OG, put me out for the time being, but I never really got the opportunity to play again. You know what I mean? Once that ended.”

In November 2021, the Miami Heat played against the Denver Nuggets. Markieff Morris fouled Nikola Jokic, and the Joker retaliated instantly by shoving Morris while his back was turned. Jokic was suspended for a game, and Morris was fined $50,000, but he suffered lasting effects of that shove.

The whiplash reportedly resulted in a much serious neck injury, although the specifics are vague. It was severe enough for Miami not to play Morris at all. Four years later, Morris is hesitating to bring it up with Miami icon, Udonis Haslem, three feet away. But UD urged him to speak his mind.

Morris claims there was some misconception about his injury. “It was a two-week injury. I got cleared in two weeks, but they made it seem because Miami wouldn’t allow me back on the court that I was injured for six month.”

Two weeks is a surprising revelation. Morris had missed 30 games by January when he publicly slammed Nikola Jokic. By February, Miami feared that Morris’ season was over and asked the NBA to assess Morris’ readiness to play via a Fitness to Play panel, a group of three doctors selected by the league, players’ union, and an independent source. The panel cleared Miami of any liability if Morris, who was eager to play, did step on the court.

The animosity between the Morrises and the Jokics since this incident is well-documented. But Morris is also holding some bitterness against the Heat that he’s not willing to express before UD.

The Miami Heat added to Markieff Morris’ frustration after the Nikola Jokic incident

It became a debate about who is more at fault in that altercation within the NBA community. In that game, Jimmy Butler had some furious words for the Denver bench as well. Morris, who had also suffered a neck injury in 2019, was in severe pain on the court.

With every game he missed, fans grew concerned. Eventually, he had missed 58 games when the NBA cleared him. He returned in March 2022, in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He played 17 minutes and scored 6 points in the Heat’s 113-104 loss.

Now he tells the fan who asked that he never stopped playing basketball, and Haslem witnessed all of it. “It was whiplash. I literally got whiplashed and was and was right back. OG was there. I was whiplash practicing on the regular. I practiced for six months and was working out.”

He hints at tension with the team that kept him off the court when he says, “That was the misconception of I couldn’t play because Miami wasn’t… they didn’t really want me to get back on the court. Like they were just basically like they wrote me off like, ‘No, you can’t. We’re not allowing you back on the court with this injury.’ And obviously I played four more years after that and I’m still playing now.”

Morris left Miami after that brief comeback. He played in Brooklyn, Dallas, and most recently, the Lakers. He states that, contrary to how Miami made it seem, he’s still playing. The Lakers reportedly also parted ways with Marcus Morris’ twin quietly after a recent brush with controversy.