Rumors

Adam Morrison and Brad Walker, who carried the Greater Spokane League banner to national acclaim, are having their achievements honored permanently in the state. Morrison, the former Mead High School and Gonzaga University basketball star, and Walker, a former University High School and University of Washington pole vault standout, have been voted into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.

SWXRightNow.com

Adam Morrison: So we used to have an unwritten rule in the league and most teams did it. If your team played each other in basketball or football it's an automatic $100 bet. Gonzaga played Carolina in the Garden when I was, after my rookie year and we won. So I saw him at the Christmas party and I was 'hey you owe me a 100 bucks.' I was just kind of like joking and he's like 'oh yea, no problem', but he pulled out a f---, I mean, this thing had to be like eight to 10 grand out of his, you know his pocket and he's like 'here you go.' And then we are playing. We used to play cards on the plane... before all that crazy stuff in Washington went down. And we'd play booray and then we would play Texas Hold 'em and Mike, he barely flew with us 'cause like I sad, he wasn't the GM - wasn't the owner, he was a minority owner then but he flew with us on one of the road trips.

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Adam Morrison: And somebody asked him like 'hey do you want to play cards with us?' He was like sure but then we were like, alright, you can't bring like $50,000 and just bet everybody off every hand. We're gonna cap it like $1,000 bet max. So him and Gerald Wallace were in a hand... There was like a straight draw flush draw on the flop and you can tell Mike was drawn to something. Gerald bet $300 into him and Mike literally goes '$300? I'd watch two monkeys f--- for $300.' Everybody was laughing... He was always cool.

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"I was 26 at the time, number three pick [in the 2006 NBA draft], a really low point in my life, and I got a text from Robert Lara, the Lakers security and one of Kobe’s best friends. He said ‘Hey, what’s your address, I’ve got something in the mail for you.’" Morrison assumed he was getting a magazine from Lara, whom he had a friendship with during his time with the Lakers. "I get the package, and it’s an autographed jersey from Didier Drogba, who was my favorite player," Morrison said. "I’m a Chelsea fan. It was from Kobe. A game-worn jersey, signed by Didier Drogba, ‘To Adam, Best Wishes.’"

Sports Illustrated

"The night he passed, I’m scrolling through, reading everything, and I'm emotional," Morrison said. "And on Chelsea’s Instagram page, it’s him with Didier Drogba holding up a jersey and it says ‘To Adam, Best Wishes.’ So he went up to my favorite player, got it signed for me without me even asking, and sent it to me when he knew I was low. It's unbelievable. I still have the jersey. That's what Kobe Bryant was, man. He was just one of those dudes who understood his own aura and could sense when people were down." Morrison said he was lucky to play alongside Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP and one-time regular season MVP. Bryant was posthumously elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Sports Illustrated

Even though the Lakers chose to waive the promising young guard in favor of Devontae Cacok of the South Bay Lakers, Norvell’s journey in the NBA is far from over, as he has shown the potential to be a force on the next level. ClutchPoints recently spoke with someone that knows Norvell and the Lakers quite well, with two-time NBA champion and Gonzaga legend Adam Morrison sharing his thoughts on the 22-year-old. “Great player. Great shooter,” Morrison said of Norvell. “We wish we could still have him at Gonzaga. He was terrific for us. Like I said, I called the games, so I watched his whole career up close.”

Clutch Points

“I think he’s got a chance,” Morrison said. “Obviously, there are things he’s got to improve on. That’s everybody that walks into the NBA. You figure that out pretty quick. “Good kid. Hard worker. Wishing him all the best … Great kid! And his background, he was inner-city Chicago. He was in the real Chicago. Us at Gonzaga, we love trying to help kids out who work hard and are good kids and kind of get out of ruts and turn their lives in for the better."

Clutch Points

The truth, however, is that Adam Morrison’s post-basketball life is mostly sunny skies. He’s entering his second season as Gonzaga’s radio analyst, a job he does for fun, not a paycheck. Otherwise, he mostly does whatever he wants when he wants, while also doting on his 10- and 7-year-old daughters and his 2-year-old son. (He has a girlfriend but has said he doesn’t believe in marriage.) He doesn’t have any real plans for the future. He’s too busy enjoying the moment. “I’m kind of a boring guy,” says Morrison. “I’m like your typical soccer dad.”

The Athletic

Thanks to an uncle who owned a Wyoming bank, he invested his money wisely and now lives off of the annual interest. With no state income tax in Washington and the low cost of living in Spokane, he’ll never have to work another day in his life. “I was upset for a while about how my career turned out,” Morrison says. “At times, sure, I wish was still playing. But I’m not like, ‘Aw, dang, I screwed this up and I’m working at a Costco.’ People expect me to be destitute or something. I don’t live an extravagant lifestyle — I don’t need to go party every weekend or have a place in Miami. I’m lucky to have saved my money.”

The Athletic

Morrison returned to the U.S. in April 2012. He attempted one last NBA comeback, playing with the Nets and Clippers in the summer league. He played well, too, averaging 20 points and five rebounds in his five games. Normally such production from a former lottery pick would lead to all sorts of offers. Not for Morrison, though. The Blazers were the only team to call. They extended him a training camp invite but cut him before the start of the regular season. "Once you get that 'bust' label, it's hard to shake it," Morrison says. "And rightfully so. Somebody spent a top-five pick on you, and you didn't deliver." Just six years after being drafted No. 3 overall, Adam Morrison's NBA dream had come to an end.

Bleacher Report

He hasn't completely written off basketball. At one point he thought he'd go into coaching. He joined Mark Few's staff at Gonzaga, where he also got the credits he needed to complete his degree. But he realized before long there were better ways for him to spend his time. "I didn't want to leave my daughters," he says.

Bleacher Report

This is where the narrative diverts from the path you assume it’s headed. There’s no sob story, no business deals gone bad. The opposite, actually. Morrison is living the life of a retired and extremely wealthy suburban dad. He’s a regular at the Texas Hold 'em tables at the local casinos and plays more than 100 rounds of golf a year. He owns nine cars—his favorite being a blue 1969 Chevelle Super Sport 393 with a white stripe across the hood. He spends weekends swimming, boating and Jet Skiing at his house along Idaho's Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Bleacher Report

"I've saved my money and done well where I can now pick and choose how I spend my time," he says. Basketball-Reference.com estimates Morrison's NBA earnings at just under $17 million. He also signed an endorsement deal with Adidas that ESPN's Darren Rovell reported to be worth seven figures and another one, Morrison says, with Johnson & Johnson. His uncle, one of the founding members of the Wyoming State Bank, taught him how to live comfortably without splurging (for example, Washington has no income tax) and how to properly invest so he'd never have to work another day in his life. "I just try to make 6 to 8 percent a year," Morrison says. "That's all I need." He then lets out a small laugh. "It's a pretty good life."

Bleacher Report

"It was just such an extra responsibility to have to always monitor that during games and practices," says Matt Carroll, a friend of Morrison's and former Charlotte Bobcats teammate. "Some days you could see he just didn't have it." "To be honest, it [diabetes] was harder to manage in the NBA than I thought it would be," Morrison says. "And overseas"—where Morrison says it was often more difficult for him to procure his medication— "it got worse."

Bleacher Report