The Los Angeles Lakers got a shot in the arm in their frontline after they reached a verbal agreement to sign veteran power forward Markieff Morris, who just completed a buyout with the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
Shams Charania of The Athletic first broke the news of Morris’ buyout with the Pistons and plans of signing with the Lakers.
Markieff Morris plans to sign with Lakers, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 21, 2020Morris, 30, is going to be a significant acquisition for the championship-contending Lakers as he provides depth in both forward spots.
A nine-year veteran out of Kansas, Morris will add more spice to the brewing intra-state rivalry between the Lakers and the Clippers, who ironically traded for his twin brother Marcus Morris a couple of weeks ago.
Let’s take a look at how much help Morris can provide LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the Lakers in order to win a championship this season.
Extra Scoring Punch
Morris is just averaging just a shade above 25 minutes per game throughout his career, yet he’s a career 11.6 points scorer. Like his brother Marcus, he can play both forward positions seamlessly because of his ability to spot up for jumpers and create his own shots, when needed.
Floor Stretcher
The Lakers have a bevy of solid big men on their second unit but they don’t have a player who can knock down long bombers at much better rate than Morris. Markieff has shot 33 percent from the three-point range throughout his career and once knocked down 37 percent of his three-balls during the 2017-18 NBA season with the Washington Wizards.
