7:37pm: The Clippers, Wizards, Knicks have issued press releases officially announcing this three-team trade sending Morris to the Clips.
Meanwhile, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic clarifies (via Twitter) that the Knicks only have the rights to swap their own 2021 first-round pick with the Clippers’ 2021 first-rounder — New York can’t swap Dallas’ 2021 first-rounder selection for L.A.’s.
1:45pm: The Clippers and Knicks have reached an agreement on a trade that will send Marcus Morris to Los Angeles, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, the return for Morris will feature Maurice Harkless and multiple draft picks, including the Clippers’ 2020 first-rounder.
The deal will also include a third team, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who reports that the Wizards will acquire Jerome Robinson from the Clippers, sending Isaiah Thomas to L.A.
The Knicks will get Detroit’s 2021 second-round pick from the Clippers, as well as the right to swap first-round picks with the Clippers in ’21, reports Ian Begley of SNY.tv (via Twitter). That pick swap will have top-four protection, adds Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (via Twitter). Draft-and-stash prospect Issuf Sanon will also go to New York (from Washington), tweets David Aldridge of The Athletic.
When Charania previously reported that the Knicks and Clippers were in serious discussions about Morris, Jovan Buha of The Athletic suggested that Los Angeles was offering Harkless, Mfiondu Kabengele, Terance Mann and its 2020 first-round pick. The final package for the Knicks is heavier on draft assets than NBA players, with Kabengele and Mann remaining in L.A.
Morris, 30, is having a career year in New York, with averages of 19.6 PPG and 5.4 RPG to go along with a .442/.439/.823 shooting line in 43 games (32.3 MPG). The Knicks were initially believed to be leaning toward keeping him and trying to re-sign him in free agency this summer, but changed course following Steve Mills‘ removal from the president of basketball operations role earlier this week.
Morris will join a talented Clippers frontcourt that features star forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter), the team plans to start all three players when everyone’s healthy, alongside Patrick Beverley and Ivica Zubac.
The Lakers were among the other teams with interest in Morris, but were reportedly unwilling to include both Kyle Kuzma and Danny Green in a potential deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
How could you be More Harkless
Stupid auto correct
I still appreciate the pun
Didn’t know that Terence Mann snuck out of the cornfields of Iowa and onto the Clippers bench.
Dudes from Brooklyn and went to Florida state but ok
Obviously not a “Field of Dreams” fan.
Nah I didn’t get it. But I’m a 27 yr old baseball fan and had to look up the reference so maybe it’s time to retire it
Hey kid…one day someone will say that to you…
Get out of here with your unnecessarily snarky attitude.
Ok boomer
Idk how that’s snarky haha sorry I hurt your feelings
No worries, man. I knew it was a dumb joke but I couldn’t resist. The movie is almost 35 years old, so no worries on missing it, too.
Please leave a list of all references you don’t get so everyone can retire them. We need the help since apparently, if you don’t get it, then we don’t need it. Thank you for allowing us to speak your language and live on your planet. We appreciate it, Oh Great One.
Not trying to state the obvious but I’m not surprised that someone by the handle of Thuggababy would miss the Field of Dreams reference. If you build it, they will come…just saying
Maybe we should all just go have a catch…
For the record, my handle is a music reference that you don’t get haha
Apparently we don’t get it so maybe you should retire it.
Lol
Or, maybe you should watch the movie??
After all that, I disagree. If you take the FSU players, they will come to the NBA!
Yes another pick is way to go. Have to see the rebuild thru. He fits well with Clippers. If Lakers don’t make a move. I see Clippers in Finals.
Haha should have accepted kabengele. I would say the Knicks made out like bandits… But won’t matter if they do end up 2020 champs.
Clippers*
Bandits? Did the trade their owner?
There has to be at least one other player (Harkless alone won’t match). I would think the Knicks wouldn’t want to do a 3-for-1, thus a 2nd instead of the third player makes sense. Ellington is the easiest guy to cut. He’ll get picked up by someone.
Interesting to see Isaiah Thomas going to the clippers if he can stay healthy that’s a good back up point guard that’s coming from a Boston fan
IT is washed at this point. I don’t really get adding him when you have Lou Will.
Replacing Robinson with a vet makes decent sense for a team trying to win it all
He won’t get off the bench.
especially after being waived haha
Yeah just saw that. Poor dude. A fast fall from grace.
Any chance Knicks bring back Morris this summer
Hopefully stock piling the picks gets them someone like Beal from Washington
This one made me laugh. I didn’t know Knickerbocker fans still had any hope of landing anyone.
I do
As a Knicks fan I feel sorry for Harkless. Going from the best team to the worst. What would be great Knicks release him and he signs with the Lakers and he helps beat the Clippers in the playoffs.
He’s a local, he’ll be fine.
The Clippers are not the best.
AMEN… They’re somewhere between 3rd to 5th best.
Especially since the differences in Harkless and Morris are kind of marginal
Why would the Lakers trade Kuzma for Morris? I give the Knicks credit for asking, but it just seems ridiculous the Lakers would consider it.
The Knicks didn’t ask. This was almost exclusively on the Lakers’ initiative. Before (supposedly) deciding against it.
Tons of narratives put forth by the media that never came close to panning out. Color me surprised.
Yes, but those narratives are given to the media by the teams, not to inform but to promote their own agenda.
With draft picks heading to the Knicks in this deal, and without verifying, the Clippers might not have a single pick left until the year 2035 (dry pun). Marcus Morris is a very legit offensive weapon, but with the way his game has developed over the years, I feel his addition is just more of the same for the Clippers; another wing scorer, albeit an oversized wing who will really NEED to rededicate his game to getting tough down low on the defensive end… He does bring with him something the Clippers are clearly lacking; elite three point shooting… However, I feel this acquisition is somewhat of a waste of assets by the Clippers (unless they made this deal solely to block the Lakers from acquiring him), in that they don’t need anymore “offense first” weapons. What they needed more than anything else was at least ONE, if not TWO, defensive-minded big men to be able to bang with the Lakers enormous front court of Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard & JaVale McGee… Zubac only gets 18 minutes a night, leaving a very tough, yet very undersized Montrezl Harrell to have to handle those 7 footers, along with now, Marcus Morris.
Did the Clippers get a talented player? Yes. Did they get the talent needed for a 7 game series with the Lakers? No… All I can say is, “Best of Luck!!!”
How did the math work on this trade? How did clippers fit Morris 15 million under cap? How much did Harkless make? How much do draft choices count??
No way they’d give up Kabengele in this type of deal, and if they did, that’s a big mistake. I think he has a lot of potential to be really good. I also like Mann.
Sanon has some interesting upside, but he feels very raw, and the type of guy that doesnt really work well with the Knicks, but we’ll see…
Already essentially confirmed neither Kanbengele or Mann is to be included in the deal. I too thought that would have been a big overpay on top of the first.
A late-first, a second and Sanon sounds about right.
Agreed, as I said, only marginal differences between Morris and Harkless
Is the pick swap a joke?
They’ll be able to swap the Dallas pick if they choose.
Wow, big overpay by the clippers. Despite what ordinary fans think, Morris is just NOT that good. He’s actually pretty bad. Don’t know why the clippers are so enamored with him, but they probably win the chip this year with or without making this trade.
The Clips win this for indirect reasons.
1. The Lakers don’t get Morris instead;
2. The Knicks will collapse, relying on pingpong balls dropping for any silver lining;
3. Harkless has more competition on a worse team;
4. Kabengele & Mann are good prospects to be able to retain.
Harkless is on a hometeam and could go wild taking shots. But, IDK what the Knick plan is. For the Clips, they can focus Morris on roles, including 3pt shoting.
Knicks did surprisingly well here. Now have 7 first round picks in next 4 years. If they really want To keep Marcus Morris all they have to do is sign him again in July as he is a Free Agent.