Suns suspend Markieff Morris 2 games for throwing towel at coach

Be careful what you wish for, Markieff Morris.

In response to his bellyaching for more playing time, the Phoenix Suns have slapped Morris with a two-game suspension, the team announced.

Yahoo's Shams Charania reported the suspension earlier Thursday.

A visibly angry Morris pegged Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek with a towel after being yanked from Wednesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets. Hornacek promptly threw it back at him and had words for his struggling forward.

Morris apologized for his outburst on Twitter shortly after he received his suspension.

"My frustration got the best of me last night," Morris wrote. "It won't happen again. I apologize to Jeff. My teammates told me I hit coach with the towel. In no way was that towel intended for him. I just want to help my team win so much. That's my focus moving forward."

Morris has been a headache both on and off the court for Hornacek. He demanded a trade in the offseason, is battling legal troubles, has a horrible propensity of picking up technical fouls, and, most of all, his game has taken a huge step backwards.

Related: Suns in no-win situation after fallout with Markieff Morris

He's shooting 37.9 percent from the field, and his continued struggles are why Hornacek pulled him, and not coincidentally, why Morris was angry.

"He's mad about not playing," Hornacek said, according to Paul Coro of AZ Central. "I look at the stat sheet. He's a minus-13 in 12 minutes. So there, I took him out. … He thinks he's better than that. Show me."

The Suns are stuck in an awful 5-14 stretch and losing a starter for two games will hurt, but they've played better with Morris on the bench this year and he's already received nine DNP-CDs.

Even his trade value appears to be slipping.