The rivalry between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs began 20 years ago when Tim Duncan and David Robinson beat the Knicks in the NBA Finals. That championship was the start of the Spurs dynasty, while at the same time, it was a start of misery at Madison Square Garden.
According to Ian Begley of SNY, the latest bad blood between two franchises is not only because of Marcus Morris’ snub of the Spurs. It goes back to the Kristaps Porzingis trade to the Dallas Mavericks. Namely, the Knicks have a beef with the Spurs as they believed that San Antonio “crossed lines of accepted behavior” prior to Porzingis’ move to the Dallas Mavericks in February.
From earlier: Rich Paul didn’t tell Marcus Morris to leave San Antonio, and some with Knicks feel Spurs operated outside of NBA’s accepted norms when Kristaps Porzingis was in New York: https://t.co/msH6icvUZM
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) July 19, 2019
Even though we don’t know the specifics of what the Spurs did or didn’t do to make the Knicks angry, New York apparently felt that San Antonio “operated outside of accepted NBA norms.” One of the speculations is that Gregg Popovich’s side wanted to bring Porzingis to San Antonio, but the New York Knicks decided to deal the Latvian to the Mavericks instead.
The San Antonio Spurs were “pissed” that Morris didn’t respect the handshake agreement on a two-year deal with them. Instead, he accepted a one-year, $15 million deal from the New York Knicks, according to The Athletic’s Frank Isola.
Sources: Marcus Morris has also signed his one-year, $15M contract with the Knicks. https://t.co/DFLA8t8ovN
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 16, 2019
That wasn’t the only free agency story concerning Morris. Morris also turned down a three-year contract worth $41 million from the Los Angeles Clippers, after which he fired agent Rich Paul.
Ian Begley reported that Morris made the Knicks decision on his own as he didn’t want to listen to Paul and stay with the San Antonio Spurs. All in all, the choice is now final; Morris chose the Knicks over the Spurs while New York sent Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas instead of San Antonio, and both teams are mad at each other. Maybe this situation will change in the future, but for now, the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs are involved in a real NBA beef.
