Darius Morris

Lakers To Extend Qualifying Offer To Darius Morris

The Lakers will extend a qualifying offer to Darius Morris, making him a restricted free agent, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.

While Bresnahan pegs the value of the offer at around $940K, I believe it will be closer to $962K. Either way, Morris will have the option to accept the one-year qualifying offer or to sign a new deal as a free agent. The Lakers will have the chance to match any contract Morris signs with another club.

Kupchak On Sessions, Offseason

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak held a conference call with team beat writers this evening to offer his thoughts on Ramon Sessions' decision to opt-out of the final year of his contract and other offseason topics. Among those present was Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, who tweeted that Kupchack's preference would have been for Sessions to pick up his player option for next year. As we mentioned earlier, the team still owns Ramon's bird rights and will not have to use their mid-level exception if they choose to re-sign him. Trudell released the full transcript of Kupchak's comments, and here are some highlights..

Read more

Lakers Notes: Iguodala, Barnes, Morris, Bynum

A roster upheaval could be coming in Los Angeles, as Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak expects to explore "all opportunities" to improve the team's roster. Our round-up of Lakers items this morning includes some hints at possible moves, as two Lakers free agents discuss the future and Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld identifies a potential trade target….

  • Expect the Lakers to target Andre Iguodala again this summer, Kennedy writes in HoopsWorld's NBA AM feature. The Lakers pursued Iguodala a year ago, and a source tells Kennedy that Kobe Bryant would welcome the acquisition of an athletic small forward.
  • In his exit interview, Matt Barnes acknowledged that he may have played his last game as a Laker, as Brian Kamenetzky of ESPNLosAngeles.com notes. Barnes also suggested that his priorities in free agency may be different this time around: "The last few teams I’ve went to, it was in search of a ring, and have fallen short. I’ve always turned down a significant amount of money to do that. So that’s something we’ll have to sit down and see."
  • Darius Morris enjoyed his rookie season in Los Angeles but may end up heading somewhere where he can earn more playing time, writes Andy Kamenetzky of ESPN LA. "I love it here in L.A.," Morris said. "But being a young player, it's really important to be somewhere you feel you have an opportunity to play and get to grow on the court most importantly… We'll see what happens."
  • Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News questions whether Andrew Bynum is the player the Lakers should be building around long-term as they prepare for Kobe Bryant's last few seasons.

Pacific Notes: Nash, Bogut, Morris

As every Pacific team except the Clippers prepares to host a game later tonight, let's check in on the latest updates out of the division:

Odds & Ends: Spurs, Diaw, Kaman, Morris

On the speculation that Dwight Howard could be the determining factor with regard to his job security, coach Stan Van Gundy was forthright"If they want to fire me to please somebody, fire me," later adding, "our job, my job is to focus on the basketball." Regardless of what happens before the deadline, the Magic coach will be able to put the trade speculation aside by the time Friday hits. Here are some other notes worth looking at from around the league: 
  • The Spurs may be looking into the trade market for a point guard, according to Yannis Koutroupis of HoopsWorld. 
  • Tony Parker spoke about his desire for Boris Diaw to join him in San Antonio should he be granted a buyout from the Bobcats. Interestingly enough, Parker referred to the Knicks as another team that is interested in Diaw. 
  • Center Chris Kaman says he feels comfortable with his role in New Orleans and would hope to stay with the Hornets, writes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. 
  • Lakers rookie Darius Morris suffered a bruised wrist during a game in the D-League and will be day-to-day, says Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. (Twitter link)  
  • Greg Oden appears to be preparing to move on from the Trail Blazers. According to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, a source close to the situation has said that Oden is in the process of selling his home in Portland and has no intention of returning to the team next season. 

Odds & Ends: Howard, Morris, Anderson, Knicks

While there haven't been any big Dwight Howard rumors so far today, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel indicates that there has been a "shift in tone" in how Howard's desires are perceived.  As we documented yesterday, the rumors are running wild, seemingly due to Howard's ambivalence.  Here is what else is going on around the league on this Wednesday evening:

Decisions On Non-Guaranteed Contracts

February 10th marks the day that all players on non-guaranteed contracts will have their deals guaranteed for the remainder of the season. However, if a team wants to meet that Friday deadline, it will need to make its decisions today, allowing its player(s) to pass through waivers in time.

Some non-guaranteed players, such as DeJuan Blair and Jeremy Lin, are in no danger of being waived. However, with a few dozen players on non-guaranteed deals across the league, there will be plenty of cuts before the day is out. Some of those players will sign 10-day contracts shortly after being cut, while others could join the D-League or find a place on our list of current unrestricted free agents.

We'll track all the day's decisions on non-guaranteed contracts right here, with the latest news up top:

Zach Links contributed to this post.