Los Angeles Lakers: 2 players that need to get minutes in playoff rotation

2. Markieff Morris

This is a bit harder of a case to make. Before the playoffs, we talked about why Markieff Morris probably would not be part of the playoff rotation. While all of those points still stand, it might be time to give Morris at least some playing time to see if he can help the offense.

Morris was red-hot in the NBA Playoffs for the Lakers last year. He shot 42% in the playoffs from three in 69 attempts — the third-highest playoff three-point percentage in franchise history with that many attempts. He did not do a ton, but he came in and would hit a handful of big threes when the Lakers needed them.

The shooting has been so poor in both the play-in game and in Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors that it would not hurt to give Morris 8-10 minutes in non-critical moments to get 2-3 three-point shots up.

If he is shooting the ball well then he could get a bigger role, taking more of Drummond’s minutes and even dipping into Kyle Kuzma’s.

That is where the biggest issue lies, though. Playoff minutes are not unlimited and it is hard to pinpoint where exactly Morris would get his from. Kuzma is not filling up the box score but he is hustling and contributing in ways that don’t shot up in the box score.

Perhaps the move is to take away minutes from Talen Horton-Tucker. That would not be a popular move with Laker fans but THT is not a good shooter and is not effective as a scorer with the lane clogged.

Regardless, it would be nice to see Morris at least get a chance to see if his red-hot playoff shooting will carry over to 2021.