The 2023-24 season has been anything but stable for Marcus Morris. He agreed to return for a fifth season with the Los Angeles Clippers. After attending training camp and preseason, the Clippers traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers on November 1 as part of the James Harden trade.
After playing well for 37 games for his hometown team, including seven starts, the Sixers traded Morris to the San Antonio Spurs as part of a three-way deal for Buddy Hield. The 76ers made this trade less than a month after Philadelphia’s city council bestowed Morris with the “keys to the city.” Hours after Philadelphia traded him to the Spurs, the contract buyout rumors started. Patrick Beverley amplified the discourse, stating on his podcast that Marcus Morris wants to sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
A player doesn’t often have an opportunity to play 12 years in the NBA, let alone play for seven franchises – eight if he signs with the Wolves. Morris has earned every minute of those 12 seasons by being a gritty, hard-nosed defender and molding his offense to fit whatever niche a team asks of him. If Morris signs with Minnesota, he would be another offense threat willing to play multiple roles. Most importantly, he’d bring more toughness to the locker room.
Statistically, Morris is a dream stretch forward, shooting 40.0% from three this season and 37.7% for his career. He has done so on a high volume of three-point looks, 4.2 per game for his entire career. Morris has improved his three-point percentage this season because of his ability to adapt and find open spaces on the floor. Morris came up playing with his back to the basket. He relied on post-ups to get most of his points, backing a defender down before attempting a fade away or stepping back for a shot.
But with the Sixers, Morris started to play more like Naz Reid in how he positions himself on the court. He found spaces above the break so that Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey could pop the ball back out to him for three. 72.2% of Morris’ three-point attempts come from above the break this year, where he’s shooting 41.5%, with 96.3% of his makes coming from an assist.
Morris shoots from above the break frequently in the video below. Many of Morris’ shots are wide open due to the defense compensating for Maxey and Embiid’s scoring ability. It’s similar to how opponents often leave Reid when he plays with Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Morris doesn’t just score on kick-out threes, though. He’s shooting 43.1% from mid-range. For context, Towns shoots 39.7% from mid-range. Morris has a 52.7% effective field goal percentage, which would be good for seventh-best among Minnesota’s players who get regular minutes. It’s also only 0.4% lower than Edwards. As a result of his good shooting and ability to transition to playing more off-ball, Morris has a 113.4 offensive rating, the third-highest of his career and only 3.2 lower than Towns’s.
The video below is another example of how the Wolves could use Morris. In a December 20 game against Minnesota, Morris sets an off-ball screen for Tobias Harris. That causes Gobert to drop to the basket and Troy Brown Jr. to shadow behind Harris, guarding against the step-back. Similar to the last clip, the Wolves forget about Morris, who hits a wide-open three as Harris kicks the ball out to him.
On defense, Morris brings intensity and accountability that the Wolves sorely need. While Morris is posting the worst defensive rating of his career (114.1), much of his defensive impact doesn’t appear on the stat sheet. Like Beverley, Morris has become adept at all the little things that can wear down an opponent.
Morris is almost constantly leaning against his matchup, putting his hands on them, stepping on shoes, anything to get inside his matchup’s head. That has led to Morris drawing more fouls, often because the player he’s matched up against gets frustrated. That has benefited Morris historically, resulting in an average of 4 free throw attempts per 100 possessions for his career.
Morris is a 77.5% free-throw shooter. That’s 1.0 more free throws than Reid gets per 100 possessions. Morris’s savvy amplifies how he’s been able to translate defensive mind games into offensive production. The video below highlights Morris’ physicality. He sends Keyonte George to the ground while backing him down in the paint and drawing the foul.
Morris’ overall defensive success highlights the accountability he has offered seven different teams in 12 years. Morris has never had a defensive rating higher than 114.1. That means Morris would rank 12th in the NBA this season if he were a team. Using Morris’ career average defensive rating of 109.8, Morris would rank second, only behind the Wolves. His ability to consistently be above average, if not elite, on defense across so many different teams for so long is a testament to Morris’ ability to impact a team and help change the culture around him.
In the video below, Philadelphia has Morris matched up with Lauri Markkanen off the ball before he gets switched onto Simone Fontecchio. Morris then presses up on Fontecchio, making contact. Morris dives into the wall off Markkanen’s cut to the basket, resulting in a deflected pass for a turnover.
Morris’ abilities seem to fit well with Minnesota’s needs. At 6’8”, 218 lbs., he’s another big-bodied player who can play multiple positions and fit into the offensive flow while playing good defense and helping hold the team accountable. It looks like Morris will sign with the Wolves. Only time will tell if his influence is exactly what the Wolves need to help them on their road to the playoffs this season.
