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One Lakers player who knows Luka better than anyone is Markieff Morris after playing with him in Dallas and coming over in the trade. Morris appeared on ESPN’s First Take on Monday morning and defended Doncic while reacting to the photos that emerged on Sunday: “That’s my guy, Luka. Like Stephen A. said, that regiment in the season you would think we’re in better shape because of the season, but when you’re eating hotel food, you’re getting in at 3 o’clock in the morning in different cities, you have to eat at 4 o’clock in the morning with a back-to-back. All that stuff takes a toll on your body. The stress of being in a long season, the stress of being traded mid-season. It’s just the things he went through last year. He’s back in Madrid, I know how he likes Madrid, we were in Madrid last year with the team. He’s back in his environment, he’s having a great time, and right now I don’t even think he’s worried about anything. I just think he’s happy this season is over. I don’t think he’s happy how this season ended, but I think he’s happy it’s over. He’s going to regroup. Like Stephen A. said, when you’re in the summer, you’re eating that good food, you got that regiment, you got that chef, anything is possible when it comes to losing weight.”
Shams Charania: But then when I got more wind that something was going on, it was Hey, the Lakers and Mavs are going to have a TRADE. I thought it had been what I’d heard about the other day, but then I heard that Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris were in the deal. Hey, Utah’s also in the deal. I heard little bits and pieces, but obviously when I got to source 3-4-5, and had more details. Obviously, if I got one call or text that Luka Dončić was traded for Anthony Davis, I’d probably feel right there in that moment that I’d been duped. But it was a build-up to it, and by the time I got all the details—the tweet I put out had everything, there wasn’t anything missing—my hands were definitely shaking. I knew this was not the tweet to have a typo, this was not the tweet to get anything even minor wrong. Forget minor, you don’t want to get this wrong—period. You don’t want to get anything wrong, but definitely not this. It was an out-of-body night. Even afterwards. My phone had 300 messages. Call on call on call. I took a few calls—a couple people around the league, Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith. SportsCenter producer Tom DeCorte called me a few times. I had to take his call because he was wondering what everyone else was wondering—did I get hacked? My phone was malfunctioning. It was overheating.
Giddey took advantage of every minute of it last May after the Thunder’s season ended. “I’ll never forget going back on the plane to Australia,” Giddey said. “First, I was ready to get out of there because it was obviously a long year for a number of reasons, but you’re just sitting there with your thoughts for 15 hours, and the Wi-Fi was down so I couldn’t even pass time on my phone. I was just there thinking, and I remembered one of the Morris twins (Markieff) came up to me before I left and said, ‘You’re too good to let that happen to you.’ “From that point on my mind has been the next time I get to the postseason, what happened in that playoff series is never going to happen again.”
Morris is likely to remain in Los Angeles due to his leadership and strong relationships within the team, particularly with LeBron James and Luka Doncic. Meanwhile, Milton's contract, which has two non-guaranteed years remaining, could serve as a valuable trade asset in the summer. "I would say Markieff Morris is not going to be waived like 99.9%. Shake is maybe somewhere in the 90 to 95% range," Jovan Buha of The Athletic said on his latest podcast. "I'd be pretty surprised because of how valuable that contract is."
Markieff's brother Marcus revealed this info on an episode of Kevin O'Connor's podcast on March 18. He explained James' stance. “The part about it I don't think a lot of people see is that ‘Kieff and Luka have a really good relationship. Like, a really good relationship,” Marcus said at the 7:32 mark. “So I think that they probably noticed that and they wanted Luka to feel better going to a new place where you have somebody who has been a teammate. Also Dorian Finney-Smith has been [Doncic's teammate]. Maxi Kleber. So I think that really helped. Also ‘Kieff played there, so the Lakers really wanted him to come. ‘Bron asked for him to come.”
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LeBron James on Markieff Morris: 'I missed him. We’ve been in the foxhole together'
Acquiring Doncic has helped bring showtime back to the Lakers, to fill the courtside seats with A-list celebrities while one of basketball’s top showmen revels on the golden stage. Adding Morris, one of the NBA’s true tough guy truth-tellers, has bolstered their locker room, a behind-the-scenes advantage that the Lakers have desperately lacked. “I missed him,” LeBron James told The Times. “…We’ve been in the foxhole together. We’ve been on the floor during big games together. And there’s someone whose opinion I value very much when I come off the floor. He’s watching it. He’s seeing it. I’m just happy to have him back. It’s great to see him.”
“The world that we live in today, a lot of people can’t take the truth in their face. A lot of people don’t know what respect is,” Morris said. “We live in a world with a lack of respect. And that’s what I stand on. It doesn’t matter who you are. That’s first things first with me. And I feel as though, me personally, if I can’t say what I want, if I can’t say what I want, if I can’t say the right things to the people that need to hear them, I’m useless. There’s not too many people in the world like me that’s going to just be up front with anybody. That’s the way it needs to be said. “Like I say every day, I don’t have s— to lose. My 14th year. I don’t play anyway. So what? You going to get mad because I said a certain thing? I don’t have nothing to lose.”
In those first meetings, Knecht wasn’t the same confident person or player. The business of the NBA had just smacked him directly upside the head, a team showing little hesitation to send him out the door only to be forced into welcoming him back because of a failed physical by Williams. At best it was awkward. At worst, it was a problem. As Knecht processed how he’d handle returning to a place where he no longer felt wanted, Morris approached him for a talk. “Be ready. No matter what, be you,” he told Knecht. “When you get the ball, just go be you. And play like how you play, confidently, how you played at Tennessee. “…At the end of the day, just be you. Be ready to shoot. Stay confident. If they wanted the trade, like who gives a f—? Go out there and stay confident.”
Adding Morris, one of the NBA’s true tough guy truth-tellers, has bolstered their locker room, a behind-the-scenes advantage that the Lakers have desperately lacked. “I missed him,” LeBron James told The Times. “…We’ve been in the foxhole together. We’ve been on the floor during big games together. And there’s someone whose opinion I value very much when I come off the floor. He’s watching it. He’s seeing it. I’m just happy to have him back. It’s great to see him.”
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“I missed him,” LeBron James told The Times about Markieff Morris. “…We’ve been in the foxhole together. We’ve been on the floor during big games together. And there’s someone whose opinion I value very much when I come off the floor. He’s watching it. He’s seeing it. I’m just happy to have him back. It’s great to see him.”
Morris, a 14-season NBA veteran, became the Lakers’ second-oldest (35) and second-most experienced player behind LeBron James, the 40-year-old four-time league MVP in his 22nd NBA season, when he was acquired by the team. “He’s been awesome,” Coach JJ Redick said ahead of Saturday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets. “It’s very valuable to have a guy like that, a voice, an older voice, someone who’s seen it all in the NBA, someone who’s won a championship. Obviously that helps as well. “He’s been great on the bench with talking with guys, making sure our bench energy is good. I told him the other day, we see it and we appreciate it and we all just value what he’s doing right now from that aspect in leadership.”
“So, to get to this place, there are a couple of people I want to thank. First and foremost is Jeanie Buss. She’s so supportive,” Pelinka said. “I think her vision, which falls in line with the great and late Dr. Buss, to always make sure the brightest and best basketball superstars play for the Los Angeles Lakers. She’s clearly carried that vision on from her dad, and I just want to thank her for her tremendous support and vision in helping this day become a reality. “The second person I want to thank is, any time there’s a trade or a transaction, there has to be a partner, and I want to thank the Dallas Mavericks, led by their GM, Nico Harrison, who was also very instrumental in bringing this opportunity to us, and then staying true to the negotiations throughout where it could be culminated with the trade being finalized, and Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris becoming members of our team. Wanted to thank those two people.”
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