Yesterday there were more trade rumors regarding the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma, as Shams Charania/The Athletic reported that the Lakers and Knicks were having “exploratory talks” regarding him. Charania didn’t say who might be coming to the Lakers from the Knicks, but many around the league suspected that the Lakers would be going after Marcus Morris as he could provide the Lakers with a scoring boost. Charania then confirmed “several contenders” were looking at Morris.
Adrian Wojnarowski has now reported today while on ESPN that both the Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are competing for him (h/t Tomer Azarly of Clutch Points).
Woj ended this segment by calling LA an 'arms race' right now between the Clippers and Lakers trying to acquire Marcus Morris.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) February 5, 2020
There are a few moving parts to the Lakers and Clippers getting this done. First, regarding the Lakers, they would need to trade additional players along with Kyle Kuzma to be able to acquire Marcus Morris. Brad Turner/LA Times has reported that if Danny Green was included to make the trade work, the Knicks would want to move him to another team afterward. Of course, there are other ways the Lakers could eventually make the money work without trading Green, as Pete Zayas/The Athletic illustrates here.
In regards to the Clippers, a supposed trade between them and the Knicks would involve Moe Harkless’ expiring contract that is currently $11M in the 2019-20 season. It’s unknown what else the Clippers would want to offer to sweeten the deal and make the money work, but Adrian Wojnarowski on ESPN reported (h/t to Tomer Azarly/Clutch Points) that the Clippers’ Landry Shamet is “off-limits” although the Knicks want him.
Woj says Landry Shamet is essentially 'off limits' in any trade for Marcus Morris. https://t.co/YOOzVMNTlE
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) February 5, 2020
Sam Amick and John Hollinger of The Athletic also point out that in addition to the Knicks’ Marcus Morris, the Lakers and Clippers are currently both vying for players in “multiple places of late”. That includes Morris, but in addition they say the Lakers and Clippers both have interest in the Kings’ Bogdan Bogdanovic. The Lakers were previously connected to Bogdanovic in a trade that would involve Kyle Kuzma, but it was then reported that the Kings would not trade Bogdanovic for Kuzma.
We’ll be sure to update this story with any more information as it pertains to the Lakers’ pursuit of Marcus Morris.
