DENVER — When the Lakers made the three-team trade that landed them Luka Doncic three weeks ago, all of the attention, understandably so, went towards the 25-year-old five-time All-Star they acquired.
But in Markieff Morris, who also came to L.A. as part of the trade, the Lakers acquired something they didn’t have before his arrival – a veteran presence whose impact goes beyond what on the floor.
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 MVP in his 22nd NBA season, when he was acquired by the team.
“He’s been awesome,” Coach JJ Redick said pregame ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. “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.”
Morris was part of the Lakers’ 2019-20 NBA championship-winning team, which garners respect in the locker room.
“It’s important that he’s been through it with LeBron and our guys know that,” Redick added. “LeBron respects him, our guys respect him. And again, it’s something I talked about maybe a month ago. There’s so many different forms of leadership and we need Kieff’s leadership.”
IMPROVED DEFENSE
The Lakers entered Saturday with the league’s third-best defensive rating (106.8) in their previous nine games going back to Jan. 30 – all of which came without Anthony Davis, who they sent to the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 2 as part of the trade for Doncic.
Davis sat out two games because of an injury before being traded.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone offered his insight into why the Lakers have been able to perform at a high level defensively despite losing an All-Defense honoree in Davis, in addition to Max Christie.
“They can play big, which they’ve done, really big,” Malone said. “They have a number of different bigs they can use. Obviously behind Jaxson Hayes they have Alex Len, [Christian] Koloko, different players – [Trey] Jemison has played for them.
“But then they also can play small and they’ll play Rui [Hachimura] or LeBron at the 5 and switch everything. So, I think just all five guys are operating on the same page, they’re playing well and obviously you lose a guy like AD, other guys have to step up and I think that’s what you’re seeing.