A Morris brothers reunion might be in play for the Clippers, per Jason Dumas of KRON4 News. Dumas notes that there could be mutual interest in adding free-agent forward Markieff Morris — most recently of the Lakers — to a Clippers frontcourt that includes newly re-signed forward Marcus Morris, Markieff’s twin brother. Marcus has agreed to a four-year, $64M deal to remain with the Clippers.
Markieff’s minutes may be relatively minimal, as he would presumably be the fourth big man in the Clippers’ frontcourt rotation, behind starting power forward Marcus, starting center Ivica Zubac, and just-added veteran power forward/center Serge Ibaka, who will be signed using the club’s full MLE after the departure of Montrezl Harrell to the Lakers. Big man Patrick Patterson was also retained by the Clippers this offseason.
Marcus was a key role-playing piece in the Lakers’ championship run after joining the team off waivers this spring. In 18.4 minutes, Markieff averaged 5.9 points and 3.0 rebounds, while shooting a stellar 42 percent on 3.3 three-point attempts per game and 77.8 percent from the charity stripe across 21 games en route to the Lakers’ 17th NBA title.
Meanwhile, if Marc Gasol ultimately leaves the Raptors for the Lakers, Toronto has strong interest in replacing him with Markieff Morris, and it might be able to offer him more than the Clippers can afford.
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Darren Wolfson of KSTP 5 Eyewitness News tweets that the Timberwolves also considered adding free-agent guard Torrey Craig to their offseason roster. Craig ultimately agreed to a contract with the Bucks this offseason, the terms of which have yet to be released.
Although Kent Bazemore wound up returning to the Warriors and his close friend Stephen Curry on a veteran’s minimum contract, the Clippers apparently considered using their $3.6M bi-annual exception to sign the veteran swingman, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times tweets.
Although Sixers GM Daryl Morey has already made significant changes to Philadelphia, the club still needs a great perimeter scorer, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer observes. “Obviously, our job is to always look for opportunities,” Morey commented this weekend. “But we feel very good about where we are right now.” Pompey notes that in Ben Simmons, the Sixers have the kind of All-Star blue-chip piece that could fit well into a deal for Rockets superstar perimeter scorer James Harden.
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