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DALLAS — Since his time at Iowa State, Monte Morris has played in all sorts of situations in the NBA and is now with his fifth different team in Phoenix.
Despite only appearing in 13 games thus far for the Suns, who boast two of the league’s top players in Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, the ex-Cyclone isn’t getting antsy about his current lack of burn.
“Yeah, it’s been good,” Morris said of the move to Phoenix. “Waiting on my opportunity to go out and showcase a little more what I showed in the preseason.
“It’s a great group, a great coaching staff, got off to a good start. They (Booker and Durant) are definitely up there (on the list of great players) I’ve had as teammates. I’ve played with a lot of good guys.”
Morris played at Iowa State from 2013 through ’17 and earned first-team All-Big 12 Conference honors as a senior. He said his handful of game in Phoenix is highly encouraging under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, who led Milwaukee to its first NBA title in 40 years in 2021.
“We know what he (Budenholzer) wants as a coach. He wants guys playing hard and just competing,” Morris said. “We respect that from a coach. We understand all his teams have always been gritty or tough like that. We’re just trying to continue that.”
And Budenholzer, known to many simply as “Coach Bud,” was elated to add a player with Morris’ experience, someone with more than 400 NBA games on his resume heading into this season (357 in the regular season and 57 in the playoffs).
“Yeah, it’s been great for us to add Monte. He’s a guy who can organize a team,” Budenholzer said. “Mostly it’s coming off the bench his whole career and finding little pockets of games to impact with his passing, shooting, playmaking. I’ve been happy with his defense, but just his energy and attitude has been great.
“We’re very excited about having Monte.”
Early fan of Tyrese Haliburton
Morris’ time in Ames started under Cyclone legend Fred Hoiberg for his first two seasons and concluded with Steve Prohm. One of his teammates was Tyrese Haliburton, who was front and center for Team USA in its latest gold medal-winning showing at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.
Morris said seeing Haliburton representing the Cyclones so well on the international stage brought a big smile to his face.
“It was good, it was great. Tyrese, when he was with Coach Prohm his freshman year, they were hyping up Talen Horton-Tucker and Lindell (Wigginton), and he (Haliburton) kind of went under the radar,” Morris said.
“I told all the guys and Coach Prohm, he’s the one. They were like you think so? I was like ‘yeah man,’ just the way he uses his pick-and-rolls and knows how to play the game, he’s smart, he’s got it up here (between his ears). We always joke about it because he really didn’t see it. They were like he can play, but I don’t know if he’s going to be a pro.
“I was like you will see. It’s always dope to see (ISU guys do will). Yeah, for sure (I helped plant the seed for Haliburton to become great). Me and Coach Prohm have a great relationship. We talk almost every day still.”
And Morris knows the Cyclones remain in a great spot under current head coach TJ Otzelberger, now in his fourth season at ISU.
“He’s done a great job. He knows what an Iowa State coach is about and he’s just picked it up the right way,” Morris said of Otzelberger. “He’s getting guys in there that believe in the Cyclone culture and are playing their butts off, especially on defense.”
Monte Morris’ NBA journey
In 2017, Morris was a second-round pick of Denver and played for Mike Malone, who led the Nuggets to their first NBA title in franchise history in 2023, through 2022 when he was traded to Washington. Morris was then traded to Detroit in 2023 and to Minnesota in 2024.
And with the Suns being his fifth different team, some might call him an NBA journeyman considering he’s moved around a bit. But the savvy veteran feels such a label is hasty because his past three stops need to be discussed in proper context to paint a proper picture of what transpired with the Wizards, Pistons and Timberwolves.
“I would just say different situations. I’ve just been in a few tough situations,” Morris said. “I go to Denver in a trade with Will Barton that we probably could have done straight up and not put me in it during the season, but things happen like that.
“Then, I go to DC for one year. We battled injuries, had a solid year, made it to the play-in, but they blew everything up and we got a new GM. So, I go to Detroit, got hurt, and then after a 28-game losing streak, they blew up everything. So, I go to Minnesota for half a year, don’t really know a lot and that was the end of my contract.
“At the end of the day, I’ve bounced around, but I don’t think it was ever because of my play, it was circumstances and situations, blowing stuff up or new owners coming in and they’re going a new direction. I’m just ready to try and sign somewhere and have the career I did in Denver. I just got to find the right home.”
Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas
