LA Clippers: Analyzing The Re-signing of Marcus Morris Sr.

The LA Clippers’ re-signing of Marcus Morris Sr. has received mixed reviews from fans of the team since news of it broke.

As news broke of the LA Clippers re-signing veteran forward Marcus Morris Sr. on Friday night, there seemed to be two sects of Clippers fans reacting simultaneously. Rejoice and lament, in short. Some celebrating the retention of an important roster piece and others bemoaning the monetary figure required to do so.

That figure of course was $64 million over four years ($16 million/year on average). Here we take a look at the player and his place with the LA Clippers, as well as the differing viewpoints on the contract that’s proved to be so controversial.

During the 2019-2020 regular season (between New York and Los Angeles), Morris was good for an average of 16.7 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game–shooting the ball particularly well from deep at a clip of 40.8%. It of course bears noting that while the numbers themselves look good, they are skewed a bit by the first half of Morris’ season spent with the Knicks.

That New York roster being… whatever it was… allowed Marcus to essentially be the team’s primary source of offense. A role that he clearly thrived in, putting up 19.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 1.4 APG. However, when the Clippers brought him over to Los Angeles, those averages dipped to 10.1 PPG,  4.1 RPG, and 1.4 APG. Granted, that sample of games was roughly half the size, and one in which his usage rate dropped from 23.7% to 16.3%.

In the playoffs, Morris proved to be quite valuable (aside from one particular flareup that may or may not have ignited a 3-1 comeback by the Denver Nuggets). Providing 11.8 points per game while shooting a blistering 47.5% from behind the arc–being a somewhat surprising source of stability for a Clippers team that saw other players experiencing their own cold stretches. Not to mention the defensive shifts he put in against the likes of Luka Doncic and Jamal Murray, showing that the Clippers picked him up for more than his shooting alone.

Heading into the offseason, Morris had done more than enough to warrant the Clippers prioritizing his re-signing. While he wasn’t technically the first free agent that they brought back into the fold, their inaction with respect to other key free agents showed that they did view him as their greatest concern, acquiring his services for four more years to the aforementioned tune of $64 million. This is where ideologies diverge a bit.

On one hand, there are those who are simply happy that the Clippers got their man. Re-signing Morris was important not only for continuity in the starting lineup moving forward, but also because of the fact that in order to acquire him in the first place, they had to send out a first round draft pick, Maurice Harkless, and Jerome Robinson.

Not the flashiest names, but assets nonetheless; such that if they had been given up for a mere half season of Marcus Morris, it would have been quite poor. He’s also much better than anyone else the Clippers could have conceivably picked up to fill his role. However you look at it, retaining Morris was a must.

However, there’s also the camp that, while not necessarily taking issue with the player himself (although there certainly are those who do), view $64 million over four years to be simply too much, both in value and duration. While it’s not exactly fun to think about, there is merit to that argument.

The concern most easy to understand is that Marcus Morris is already 31 years old, putting him at a hair under 35 by the time his contract expires – something to consider for any player on the back half of their career to whom you’re committing that amount of time. It bears noting, though,  Morris has had a relatively clean bill of health throughout his tenure.

By far the aspect that fans and analysts alike have objected to is the sheer amount of money that the Clippers are giving Morris. At $16 million a year (again, on average), the Clippers’ signing of Morris basically hamstrung the team as far as being able to both re-sign JaMychal Green and find a top-shelf replacement for Montrezl Harrell. Being that the team is operating so close to the hard cap, margins become thin. Salary cap exceptions that the Clippers were depending on to fill out their roster would dry up if they were to exceed the salary cap’s tax apron.

In the case of JaMychal Green, Morris’ contract brought the Clippers so close to the tax apron that re-signing him would have realistically had to come from the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (~$9.3M) that they likely would have wanted to use for Harrell’s replacement, and ultimately did with the signing of Serge Ibaka. It also ate into cash that the Clippers could have thrown at ring-chasing veterans on minimum contracts. There is still some space available, but squeezing every drop of value out of these last bits of space helps win championships.

With that said, the Clippers will end up with quality players at those positions regardless, whether that’s through free agency or trade. The managed to secure the services of Serge Ibaka after all, which is the best case scenario at this point. The contract is also not so expensive that it won’t be movable at some point if the necessity arises.

Looking ahead toward the 2020-2021 NBA season, Morris’ role will likely get a bump by virtue of one of the Clippers’ other main scoring options in Montrezl Harrell departing for their much-maligned Staples Center neighbors. Despite the addition of Luke Kennard and Serge Ibaka to the Clippers’ bench, who do possess the ability to make up that ground offensively, Marcus Morris will ideally see his offensive output tick up a bit from where it was in the 19 regular season games he spent with the Clippers.

While he did go through a slump after making the move to LA (it happens), the Clippers will need Morris to be closer to the guy he was in the playoffs and then some. Of course, he is perfectly capable of that. Hence the Clippers’ front office making him priority number one going into this free agency period.

So that’s where we’re at. How does Clipper Nation feel about locking Morris up for the foreseeable future? Let us know on social media, and follow along at Clipperholics