Markieff Morris returned to the Lakers this season and impacted the team in a different way than in his first stint.
Welcome to our annual Lakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we continue with a look at Markieff Morris.
During his first stint with the Lakers, Markieff Morris went from in-season buyout signing to beloved role player by fans. He was a key rotation piece in the team’s title in the bubble, then came back and proved to be a reliable role player in the injury-plagued 2021-22 season.
This season, he was again brought to the Lakers mid-season, but under much different circumstances. Now in the final stages of his career, Kieff’s impact was off the court than on it this season, though it still proved to be valuable.
How did he play?
Not well, but did it matter?
Kieff never featured in the rotation when the Lakers were at full strength. He played in just eight games after the trade and much of that was either garbage time or in games where the Lakers rested players.
But, as mentioned, his impact on this team came off the court. In terms of veteran voices on the bench, you can hardly do better than Kieff.
Kieff is one of the few players left in the league that has the trust and respect of LeBron, given what they won together. And that leadership extends to the younger Lakers as well. Dalton Knecht noted Kieff as someone that helped mentor him during their relatively brief time as teammates this season.
What is his contract situation moving forward?
Kieff is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Since being traded to the Lakers, he’s only signed one-year, veteran’s minimum deals each offseason.
Should he be back?
In short, yes.
One role the Lakers lacked in recent years is the veteran at the end of the bench who is the vibes and mentor guy. That was the role Jared Dudley held down well as a Laker, but once he retired, the Lakers haven’t replaced him.
Kieff can very much be that guy. The problem will be that he’s just not going to be a contributing player on the court, so the roster needs to be filled out with more players who can contribute this season.
This season, too many players on the Lakers roster were non-factors and were never going to be able to contribute in games. That number should be about one moving forward and Kieff is a great candidate for that role.
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