Suns agree to unique deal with Morris twins

Put two teen brothers on opposite sides of the dinner table with a pile of 20 $1 bills between them and leave the division of that cumulative allowance to them after a week of working.

Any chance of a peaceful, expeditious solution? At the Morris household, the situation would have made sense.

Marcus and Markieff Morris opened negotiations for contract extensions with the Suns on Friday and signed two days later after an unprecedented negotiation.

Because the twins' lives are so intertwined to the point of basketball unity, Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby first negotiated a cumulative figure of $52 million over four years for the Morris twins with their agent, Leon Rose.

Babby turned to them for how the money should be divided. Markieff, who is expected to fill some of the void created by Channing Frye's departure, wound up with $32 million over four years. Frye, too, signed a four-year, $32 million deal with Orlando.

Marcus received $20 million over four years. The contract extensions start next year. Markieff and Marcus will play this season under their rookie contracts — $3.15 million and $3.11 million, respectively.

That part really did not matter to them. It all goes to the same household — and even the same bank account for how they co-exist at work and home.

"It didn't matter if it was me getting $5 million and Mook (Marcus) getting $8 million," Markieff said. "We told them it didn't matter. If they just put $13 (million) a year for the Morris twins, that would've been great. They wouldn't even have to say our names.

"We're $52 million players."

It is hard for the 25-year-old twins to do anything apart, which helped the Suns sign them to a number that worked well for them, especially considering they landed Markieff for less than fellow sixth-man power forward Taj Gibson of Chicago signed two years ago ($38 million over four years).

Marcus said Markieff's cut should have been higher. He also said they were not willing to wind up with different teams in free agency next year.

"This deal doesn't show how good of a player I am," Marcus said. "This deal is about our financial stability for our family. I'm worth $52 million. They say I'm four-year, $20 million but, at the end of the day, $13 million is coming in our household every year. I'm worth $52 million and Keef's worth $52 million."

The Morris twins have the same tattoos covering their upper bodies. They bought cars separately but picked the same make, model and color. Their mom believes their future wives will have to be fine with sharing a home. Marcus had pneumonia last week, so Markieff thought he had it, too.

"These guys have such a bond between them that we felt we had to find a way to keep them together and the synergy would only continue to grow," Babby said.

The twins are closer than peas in a pod, and that closeness is what created the theory that they would play better together.

It became true last season after Marcus was acquired in a February 2013 trade. Each player posted a career season to lead the Suns' bench unit. Markieff, who finished fourth in Sixth Man Award voting, averaged career highs for points (13.8) and rebounds (6.0), as did Marcus (9.7 and 3.9), in their third NBA seasons.

They have an inherent feel for the other's place and next cut on the court.

"Little things like that are why teams like San Antonio, or teams that keep their teams together for a while, just kind of innately know what everybody is doing," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.

Just as remarkable as their ability to make an uneven cut for their salaries, the twins took care of their extensions a month ahead the Oct. 31 deadline. Rookie extensions can be hard enough as a future bet, but finishing one in two days of talks on the eve of training camp is as rare as a terse word between the twins.

Markieff and Marcus will start at $8 million and $5 million salaries in 2015-16 and then have salary drops before they rise again leading up to the 2018-19 final season.

"It's a dream come true," Markieff said of their childhood plan fulfilled. "We feel like we're home together. When they offer us great money to stay together, why not take it instead of going through free agency? We're both going to have great seasons.

"... The game is more fun together. It means more. We're definitely past that point of not being able to play apart, but another four years definitely won't hurt anything."

Suns training camp

The Suns begin training camp in Flagstaff on Tuesday.

Practices: Twice a day Tuesday through Thursday and once Friday at NAU's Rolle Activity Center, closed to the public.

Intrasquad scrimmage: Noon tipoff Saturday at NAU's Walkup Skydome, free to the public.