Heat, Morris at odds on status

Heat forward Markieff Morris, who has been sidelined since Nuggets center Nikola Jokic shoved him to the floor three months ago, wants to play but the team still has not cleared him to do so, multiple sources told the Miami Herald on Saturday.

The Heat’s position has left in question when or if the veteran power forward will return to play this season. Morris’ injury — sustained in that Nov. 8 game in Denver — was termed “whiplash” by the Heat.

The Heat is now listing him as out because of a “return to competitive reconditioning.” But the team has declined to discuss his status. The Heat’s specific medical concern with Morris isn’t clear, but the sources said it was significant enough to make the Heat uneasy about clearing him to play, at least to this point, and significant enough to leave the team concerned about liability issues.

Morris’ neck injury wasn’t his first. In January 2019, while playing for the Washington Wizards, Morris was ruled out for six weeks following a bout of neck and upper back stiffness that led to him being diagnosed with transient cervical neurapraxia. According to sportsmedtoday.com, cervical cord neurapraxia (CCN), “is a rare but dangerous cervical spine (neck) injury. The incidence is approximately 0.2-2 per 100,000 athletes.”

An associate said Morris very much wants to be playing now. His representative declined to comment.