Markieff Morris will be entering the final year of his contract with the Wizards this fall, raising questions about his long-term future in D.C. While Morris’ outlook could change between now and his 2019 free agency, his current preference would be to not only stick with the Wizards beyond his current deal, but also to remain in Washington for several years, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington details.
“I would definitely want to finish my career here,” Morris said of the Wizards. “I love playing here. I love being in the city that I was basically raised in and playing for this organization.”
After a first-round exit in the postseason this spring, the Wizards will be looking for ways to improve their roster this season, so Morris isn’t necessarily a lock to return. However, his $8.6MM salary makes him a better value than the team’s two centers, Marcin Gortat ($13.57MM) and Ian Mahinmi ($15.94MM).
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- The Hawks will be working out six draft prospects on Monday, the team announced in a press release. Terence Davis (Ole Miss), Tyler Davis (Texas A&M), Brandon Goodwin (Florida Gulf Coast), Jared Harper (Auburn), Josh Okogie (Georgia Tech), and Luke Maye (UNC) will participate in the session.
- In a piece for The Charlotte Observer, Rick Bonnell explains what the Hornets like about Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, who is considered a “strong” candidate for Charlotte’s head coaching job.
- While Bam Adebayo proved in his rookie season that he should be considered a building block for the Heat, his position remains a bit of a mystery, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. As Winderman notes, Adebayo played primarily at center in 2017/18, but if Hassan Whiteside and Kelly Olynyk are both back next season, more minutes at power forward may be necessary to get Adebayo an increased role.
The Heat have to move on from Whiteside and develop Bam into their center. He’ll be able to do everything Whiteside can do and then more, he looks primed to be a stretch big with a solid post-game something Hassan sorely lacks. Hassan doesn’t know if he wants to be a rebounding,shot blocking big or a scoring big man. He’s way better off as a defender and rebounder but he wants to be more than just that yet he just doesn’t have the talent to be that type of guy. He got that contract and he feels like he’s a franchise player when he isn’t.
Wall says that the Wizards need to improve BUT they have no money. He is right that they need an “athletic biggie”. Trade Porter although that will be tough as he is not worth a max ($26m) contract. Dump Ian, for anything as he is not worth $16m for as little minutes that he plays. Gortat is overpaid for what he brings to the table. Leoniss needs to rebuild and negotiate contracts smartly in lieu of where they are now