Are the 2020 LA Clippers the best NBA team money can buy?
Marcus Morris – $15,000,000
Things start to get a little more interesting now that we have passed the Clippers two major superstars. Marcus Morris came to the team in a trade-deadline deal this season and has added depth, shooting, and toughness to their roster after immediately being inserted into the team’s starting lineup. While the six-foot-eight forward is a quality starter and nice role player for the team, we may be able to find some players in his price range who we’d quickly say yes to a player-for-player swap.
His $15 million salary means that we’ll be evaluating him against all players making between $18.75 million and $12 million this season.
The full list of players in that salary range:
Evan Turner, Draymond Green, Tristan Thompson, Tim Hardaway, Myles Turner, Julius Randle, Gary Harris, Allen Crabbe, Derrick Favors, Andre Iguodala, Bojan Bogdanovic, Evan Fournier, Bismack Biyombo, Clint Capela, Gorgui Dieng, Ricky Rubio, Jonas Valanciunas, Brandon Knight, Eric Bledsoe, Kelly Oubre, Dennis Schroder, Ian Mahinmi, James Johnson, Marvin Williams, Bobby Portis, Danny Green, Cody Zeller, Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee, Rudy Gay, J.J. Redick, Jordan Clarkson, Dewayne Dedmon, Solomon Hill, Justice Winslow, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Will Barton, Thaddeus Young, Courtney Lee, Larry Nance, Marcus Smart, Terrence Ross, Miles Plumlee, Patty Mills, Patrick Beverley, Trevor Ariza, Dion Waiters, Brook Lopez, Jusuf Nurkic, Cory Joseph.
This is an interesting list of players that run a range from underpaid overachievers to overpaid role players and properly-paid veterans. We see a few names on this list that would be worth swapping straight-up for Morris.
Draymond Green
Green is almost an upgraded version of Morris. He’s a forward who can defend multiple positions on defense, spread the floor, and bring toughness to the team. He’s a major upgrade on defense, a slight upgrade with his playmaking abilities, and at worst a slight downgrade as a shooter on the offensive side of the ball. It’s a slam dunk swap here.
Myles Turner
The 24-year-old center is still a work-in-progress but has shown enough potential and is already strong enough on the defensive side of the floor to make this swap.
Bojan Bogdanovic
Bogdanovic is having a break-out season for the Jazz, averaging over 20 points per game and is a career 39.4% shooter from beyond the arc. His absence is one of the reasons why the Jazz hasn’t looked quite as good during the NBA restart.
Eric Bledsoe
The 30-year-old point guard is one of the leaders on the best team in the NBA and the first former-Clipper in this group we’d be happy to welcome back to the team.
Dennis Schroder
Since we’re not factoring in fit within the current rosters, the fact that Schroder overlaps with Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, and Reggie Jackson doesn’t matter and we’d be happy to bring in the 26-year-old sparkplug point guard in exchange for Morris.
Justice Winslow
The six-foot-six inch former member of the Miami Heat has yet to make his debut for the Memphis Grizzlies. When he does he will add athleticism, energy, and defensive versatility to an already strong, young roster. He’s a step back from Morris on the offensive end of the floor, but at 24-years-old has room to grow.
Marcus Smart
Smart is one of the best values in the league for what he brings to the Celtics on the defensive end of the floor. The 26-year-old guard and former sixth overall pick has also added a three-point shot to his resume in recent years, shooting 35 percent from beyond the arc on 6.6 attempts per game this season.
Brook Lopez
The 32-year-old center has proven he’s still got what it takes to anchor an elite defense and has extended his career by adding floor-spacing ability in recent years adding a three-point shot to his game. He’s a career 34.1 percent shooter from beyond the arc since he started shooting the deep ball regularly in 2016.
Jusuf Nurkic
The Bosnian Beast has proven that his presence turns a middle-of-the-pack Portland Trail Blazers team into one that many NBA analysts believe has a legitimate shot of upsetting the top-seeded Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.
Close calls, but we have to say no:
Gary Harris, Eric Gordon, J.J. Redick: three players who almost made the cut but we decided to give Morris the nod over them due to his size and defensive versatility.