NY Knicks: 3 former players serving as key contributors on playoff teams
By Mark Nilon
1: Marcus Morris
Heading into the summer of 2019, with names like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler headlining the year’s star-studded free agency class, many were expecting to see New York land, not one, but two top-billed talents on the open market.
The Knicks headed into the offseason festivities with ample cap space at their disposal and a drive to get back to a status of respectability.
Strapped with $68,743,767 in cap space, who did New York wind up landing? Julius Randle and Marcus Morris.
Overall, it’s an understatement to say that this turnout wound up being quite a disappointment for the franchise and its fanbase, as the former looks to be on his way out this upcoming offseason. The latter was traded away to the Clippers midway through his lone season with the franchise.
Now, while Morris’ time in orange and blue threads ultimately didn’t wind up proving to be all that successful, since finding himself donning the red, blue, and white he’s managed to become a high-end contributor for Los Angeles, especially throughout the incredibly challenging 2021-22 campaign.
Down two of their superstar cornerstones in Leonard and Paul George for the vast majority of the year, the Clippers have maintained a status of being a challenging squad to square off against on a nightly basis.
As a result, they’ve found themselves slotted into the eighth seed in the Western Conference standings and are slatted to partake in this year’s play-in tournament.
Though there’s indeed a ton of credit to go around for LA’s surprisingly solid season without their main players in tow, a large chunk of it should be directed in the 11-year veteran’s direction.
Without Leonard and George, Morris went on to serve as the team’s primary option out on the wing where, in turn, he went on to put forth some of the best numbers of his career.
In 29.1 minutes a night, the forward finds himself posting 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and half a steal per game on nearly 44% shooting from the floor and 37.1% shooting from deep.
Holding the fort down for the team’s two absent studs out on the wing has proven to be an unbelievable challenge for the Clippers, as one could easily have imagined.
That said, Morris’ presence and production, though not perfect, has been a sizeable reason for why the team finds itself in the position they are in to potentially secure their 10th playoff berth in 11 seasons.
Heading into the play-in and potentially beyond, he’ll continue to serve as a focal point within Tyronn Lue’s scheme.
