Updated at 10:37 a.m. with more information on the Brandon Rush trade.

• Marcus Morris (Houston Rockets) played 23 minutes in his NBA debut versus the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night. He had one point on 0-for-3 shooting (0 of 1 from three, 1 of 2 from the foul line). Marcus grabbed four rebounds, two assists and committed five fouls (full stats here). The Rockets are somewhat thin in the frontcourt, so Marcus played primarily at the 4 spot, rather than his preferred position at the 3. Rockets blog Red94 asked him about that after the game. You can watch his response here.

• Drew Gooden (Milwaukee Bucks) also played on Saturday. In 10 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Gooden scored two points on 1-for-6 shooting. He also recorded five rebounds and an assist (full stats here). Gooden started for the Bucks, but it’s the preseason, so there’s not much to take away from his performance or limited run.

• Markieff Morris (Phoenix Suns) played in an 18 minute intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, and, according to the Arizona Republic, he led all scorers with 11 points. No official stats were recorded, but the Republic has this to say about his shot selection:

Markieff scored off three jumpers and two dunks and surprisingly hoisted four 3-pointers, making one.

• The Suns held media day on Friday, and the Phoenix blog Valley of the Suns wrote up a nice little piece on Markieff, the “do-it-all defender.” Check it out here.

• Brady Morningstar (NBA D-League, Tulsa 66ers) played another whopping 41 minutes on Saturday, just one night after topping 45 minutes. Morningstar didn’t shoot it particularly well (3 of 12, made his only three-pointer, 3-for-3 on free throws) but he finished with 10 points, four rebounds, a steal, a blocked shot and a team-high six assists (full stats here).

In the last blog, I asked whether Brady’s recent play might earn him a bench role in the NBA. After all, he’s been filling up the stat sheet. What I forgot to mention was that a third of the D-League’s players are at NBA training camps, including five of Tulsa’s best. We’ll have to see how Brady does if/when his minutes go down and the competition picks up.

• And because it made me laugh: Josh Selby (Memphis Grizzlies) got into the holiday spirit and dressed up as Santa on Saturday, and a tweet from teammate Tony Allen makes me think Josh didn’t have much of a choice.

Rush finally leaving Indiana?

Early Sunday morning, Marcus Thompson, a Golden State Warriors beat writer, tweeted that the Warriors are planning a trade for Brandon Rush (Indiana Pacers). You might remember that just a few days ago, Rush was rumored to be headed to Memphis in a similar trade. As of 2 a.m. Sunday, this new trade proposal was still unofficial, so for up-to-the-minute news, check Thompson’s Twitter account or the Bay Area News Group’s Warriors blog.

UPDATE, 10:37 a.m.: Sports Illustrated and the Indianapolis Star have confirmed the trade, saying that the deal should be finalized on Monday and that the Pacers have been trying to trade Rush for a couple of years.

As for Brandon, well, he sounds excited.

Jayhawks in Sunday NBA preseason games

… including an OKC-Dallas match-up that the Thunder fan in me can’t wait to see:

Sunday, Dec. 18

• 5 p.m., Mario Chalmers and the Miami Heat vs. the Orlando Magic

• 6:30 p.m., NBATV, Nick Collison and Cole Aldrich and the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the Dallas Mavericks

Note: The Boston Celtics take on the Toronto Raptors at noon, but as of Saturday, Paul Pierce was [not expected to play][19].

[18]: http://www.nba.com/gameline/20111218/