Before the Knicks' 2019-20 season opened Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET against the San Antonio Spurs, Greg Popovich doubled down on his previous comments about Marcus Morris' free-agency decision being handled "unprofessionally."
In a media scrum prior to the opening tip, Popovich was asked about Oct. 3's sentiments when he initially discussed the fallout from the Spurs' signing of Morris, who verbally agreed to a two-year deal worth $20 million over the summer.
Popovich indicated that the move was not only unprofessional by Morris, but also the Knicks.
"Who signed him? I thought it was the Knicks that signed him. That's what I thought"
- Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) October 23, 2019
- Gregg Popovich on if the Marcus Morris situation was handled unprofessionally by the Knicks pic.twitter.com/kYcsYaPCnn
"Who signed him?" Popovich said. "I thought it was the Knicks that signed him. Yeah, that's what I thought."
Popovich's answer came after questions about the originaly move made by Morris, who instead signed a one-year deal worth $15 million with the Knicks.
"Do you have a dictionary?" Popovich said. "Look that up and you'll figure it out."
Morris, who has been expecting to be booed by the Spurs' home crowd, is one of the Knicks' five starters for the game.
"What happened, happened. So you decide what was unprofessional or not."
The Spurs crowd booed Morris each time he touched the ball during New York's loss. Morris was productive in his first game as a Knick, scoring 26 points to go along with three steals in New York's 120-111 loss. He and Popovich embraced after the game.
"It was a great moment. Going back and like I said in the beginning, me and Pop had open conversations the entire time. And the thing he said to me was don't allow the media to come in between of what we talked about," Morris said. "That meant a lot. I didn't know how he felt. I spoke to him after I made my decision. So it was good to clear the air and I got nothing respect for him, Brian Wright, RC. They've been nothing but good to me during my career."
The Knicks and Spurs had bad blood dating back to Kristaps Porzingis. Sources told SNY's Ian Begley in July that the Knicks felt the Spurs operated outside of accepted NBA norms at times when Porzingis was still with New York.
The Knicks discussed Porzingis, who was eventually dealt to the Dallas Mavericks, in trade talks before the 2017 NBA draft. For undisclosed reasons, the Knicks felt that the Spurs crossed lines of accepted behavior prior to Porzingis' eventual trade.