5. Markieff Morris
Price: 1 year, $2.3mil, fully guaranteed.
Did you know that Markieff Morris and his twin brother, Marcus, have almost identical career stats?
If you asked me who was a better player right now, I’d give the edge to Marcus because he’s been the more consistent outside shooter and scoring threat in recent years.
However, did you know that one of the brothers is going to get paid over $16mil a year for 4 years, and the other is only getting paid for slightly over $2mil?
The fact that Markieff was so cheap to re-sign, especially when juxtaposed with how much his brother has cost the Clippers, is a big win for the Lakers.
Yes, I may have thrown my Lakers hat in frustration at the boneheaded decision he made with the game on the line in the NBA finals. And yes, his regular-season advanced stats were awful across the board, grading in the 25th percentile for Offensive PIPM and the 15th percentile for Defensive PIPM.
However, Kieff hit 38.6% of his threes for the year during the regular season and stepped it up to 42.0% for the postseason. It felt like he made big shot after big shot when the Lakers needed it, and provides a valuable stretch big off the bench, something the roster is currently lacking unless Kyle Kuzma suddenly becomes a consistent shooter.
For $2.3mil a year? I’ll take that kind of player on my roster any day of the week.
Grade: A-
Next up, a surprising return to the league for one of the game’s best defensive forces.