Marcus Morris denied bond following arrest, prosecutors say he owes $265,000 to Las Vegas casinos

Marcus Morris Sr. remains in a Broward County, Florida, jail after appearing in court and being denied bond in a case where prosecutors have said he owes $265,000 to two prominent Las Vegas casinos and bounced checks to pay those bills off.

Morris was arrested on Sunday in Florida and made his first appearance in court, where his attorneys asked for a bond, saying that his being out of jail would speed up the resolution of this matter, reports TMZ Sports. The judge denied the request, saying he would only release Morris for extradition to Nevada, or if the arrest warrants were withdrawn (likely because the bill was paid).

The amount of money in question is $265,000, according to court documents reviewed by TMZ. Morris reportedly got a marker for $115,000 from the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in May 2024, and in June of that year got a $150,000 marker from the Wynn Hotel. In both cases, Morris gave the casinos a bad check to cover the money owed, and those bounced checks led to the fraud charge for writing bad checks and the arrest. Because of the sums involved, these are felony counts.

Morris did not speak during the courtroom proceedings. However, he posted a lengthy Instagram story telling his side of the story, saying there were no mistakes on his part, that this was just a misunderstanding.

“Did I take out a marker to gamble? Yes. Was this my first time, no. I’ve been enjoying my off time and doing what I like every year at some point in Vegas at a high level for years and that’s not just gambling. I really thought the amount of money and time I spent there would really have value … so this year I took my time to pay back the money that could of been [handled] on the spot if I’d known that would have been locked up like I was trying to flee or a flight risk.”

Markieff had previously posted on social media supporting his brother.

Morris’ manager denied there was fraud involved in a social media post.

Nevada is looking to extradite Morris, however, his attorney told Chuck Shilken of the Los Angeles Times that a large payment had already been made to resolve the issue.

Morris played 13 seasons in the NBA after being selected as the No. 14 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. For his career, Morris averaged 12 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Morris most recently played for Cleveland during the 2023-24 season. Last season, Morris was invited to the New York Knicks training camp but was waived before the season started and was never picked up by another team.