Markieff and Marcus Morris go back-to-back in NBA Draft

On September 2nd, 1989, Angel Morris gave birth to Markieff Morris seven minutes before giving birth to Marcus Morris.

On June 23rd, 2011, Markieff Morris got drafted by the Phoenix Suns (13th overall) seven minutes before Marcus Morris (14th overall) got drafted by the Houston Rockets.  A fitting start to their professional basketball careers.

They’ll be separated for the first time in their playing careers but Marcus isn’t worried.

“It ain’t the end of the world. I’ll see him again,” said Marcus, in tears, minutes after Markieff was drafted. “I’ll send him flowers or some fruit.”

“I’m not really surprised,” said Markieff on being drafted before Marcus. He felt like his game worked well with the Suns while working out with the team.

On being drafted by the Rockets, Marcus said that he’ll be a “great fit” as they don’t have a scoring forward.

The Morris twins are the 17th and 18th players from Kansas selected in first round of the NBA Draft since 1990 (since the modern day lottery system went into place).

The 2011 Draft marked the fourth time in the current lottery system that two players from Kansas were selected as lottery picks (1998 – Raef LaFrentz [3rd] and Paul Pierce [10th], 2003 – Kirk Hinrich [7th] and Nick Collison [12th], 2010 – Cole Aldrich [11th] and Xavier Henry [12th]). The Morris twins are the ninth and tenth players from Kansas selected in the lottery.