[Woike] LeBron on Markieff Morris: “I missed him,We’ve been in the foxhole together. We’ve been on the floor during big games together.And there’s someone whose opinion I value very much when I come off the floor.He’s watching it. He’s seeing it.I’m just happy to have him back.It’s great to see him”

Acquiring Doncic has helped bring showtime back to the Lakers, to fill the courtside seats with A-list celebrities while one of basketball’s top showmen revels on the golden stage. Adding Morris, one of the NBA’s true tough guy truth-tellers, has bolstered their locker room, a behind-the-scenes advantage that the Lakers have desperately lacked.

“I missed him,” LeBron James told The Times. “…We’ve been in the foxhole together. We’ve been on the floor during big games together. And there’s someone whose opinion I value very much when I come off the floor. He’s watching it. He’s seeing it. I’m just happy to have him back. It’s great to see him.”

To be honest, Morris wishes Lakers’ fans saw him more. The competitive fire that’s kept him in the NBA for 14 seasons still burns intensely, his belief unwavering that he’s got productive minutes in his legs.

Morris also knows that the ways he’s heard might matter more to his new team, that his ability to credibly offer the same kind of advice to Knecht as he can to James, a 22-year NBA veteran who he won a championship with in 2020, puts him in a unique position as someone who can tell the truth without fear of repercussion.

There’s a chance that his off-court influence and the real possibility that Kleber returns from foot surgery before the playoffs are moves around the margins that end up mattering along with the obvious Doncic impact.

James had gone on deep runs with head coaches in their first year with the Lakers twice before, winning a title with Frank Vogel and going to the conference finals with Darvin Ham. But those teams had vets that James trusted, a close confidante in Jared Dudley in 2020 and later, a former championship teammate in Tristan Thompson.

The Lakers, after both seasons, though, balked at re-signing those players in favor of ones they felt could better contribute on the court.

“Obviously our league is trying to get away from having guys like that around,” James said. “Like the vets, that means something to a team.”

Not every veteran is able to lead the same way as Morris. Some still have visions of their younger selves, taking over games and dominating. Others aren’t as naturally gritty, as physically intimidating — “He’s big as s—!” Knecht said — or willing to get uncomfortable.

“I think it’s very valuable to have a guy like that, a voice, an older voice, someone who’s seen it all in the NBA, someone who’s won a championship, obviously that helps as well,” coach JJ Redick said. “He’s been great on the bench with talking with guys, making sure our bench energy is good. I told him the other day, we see it and we appreciate it and we all just value what he’s doing right now from that aspect in leadership.”

Austin Reaves, who like Knecht had never met Morris before becoming teammates in February, said Morris pulled him aside during one game last month to give him advice on how to better handle ball pressure by backing up closer to half court to start pick-and-roll actions with opposing bigs, creating more space to gain an advantage.

“He’s just constantly talking in game. I think he has a very good IQ and there’s been a couple situations where he’s dissected the game from the bench and come to me about what I could do to be more effective,” Reaves said. “…It’s just little things like that he sees within the game but I think he does a good job of vocalizing them.”

And because Morris, like James said, has been in the foxhole with him, he can even get on the NBA’s all-time leading scorer when the moment calls for it.

“[LeBron] needs help, too. Everybody just think he knows everything,” Morris said. “Yeah, he knows the game a lot, but for him, he can use a guy that’s, ‘Yo, did you see that right there? You can do this.’ Yeah, and that’s me. I can say, ‘Look. Bron, get your ass back. Look, you got to run back too.’”

The list of people who can credibly do that with James is short, and as they age out of the league that list shrinks every season. Morris is one of a few left in the game. And while James is out with a groin injury over the next few weeks, the Lakers can lean on Morris’ ability to connect with younger players, like Knecht, too.

Source: https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2025-03-10/lakers-star-lebron-james-dynamic-with-journeyman-markieff-morris