NBA champion returns to complete Mavericks roster

The Dallas Mavericks have reportedly wanted veteran Markieff Morris back for a while. On Saturday, they made it official.

The 34-year-old Morris agreed to return to the Mavericks on a one-year deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, keeping a veteran leader in their locker room. It won’t necessarily keep Morris on the court, where he’s played only 34 games for the Mavs since coming over in the 2023 trade that brought Kyrie Irving to Dallas.

But Dallas isn’t re-signing Morris for his 2.5 points per game and the 15 three-pointers he sank last season. It's bringing him back because the team has plenty of quality reserves who can play, but not many veteran leaders. Head coach Jason Kidd even called Morris, not Irving or Luka Doncic, the team’s MVP.

Morris started his career with the Phoenix Suns before playing his best basketball as the power forward for the Washington Wizards, playing alongside John Wall and Bradley Beal. He’s played on six teams since then, winning a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.

But Morris has found a home in Dallas, endearing himself to local fans because, despite being from Philadelphia, he’s a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. That goes a long way on a team that once fined Darrell Armstrong $1,000 for declaring, “How ‘bout those Redskins?” on an arena microphone after Washington defeated the Cowboys in 2005.

The only downside for Morris was that he couldn’t convince the Mavericks to also bring in his twin brother, Marcus Morris. Markieff announced he was coming back in July, but expressed hope that the Morris twins would be a package deal.

At least for now, he'll be filling the team's last roster spot.

Even if Markieff doesn’t play a single minute, it’s worth a veteran's minimum deal for Dallas to have him in the locker room. After all, when throwing divergent personalities like Doncic, Irving and Klay Thompson together, one can never have too many veterans to referee the locker room.