5 Potential trade targets that fit into the Hawks’ $25 million exception

The Hawks could use Marcus Morris’ toughness

Veteran forward Marcus Morris Sr., 33, is known for the kind of toughness that the Hawks have lacked since they traded Solomon Hill to the New York Knicks with Cam Reddish. Hill was not afraid of doing the dirty work and Morris is very much in the same mold.

He averaged 11.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in ‘22-’23 and hit 36.4% of his threes.

Those numbers are very comparable to what the Hawks got from Collins last season and at $8.2 million less than the former Hawk will cost this coming season.

There was a report from Andrew Greif of The LA Times that said it was “well known” Morris wanted out of L.A. but his twin brother and Dallas Mavericks forward Markieff Morris came out and refuted them pretty strongly in a tweet calling the report “cap” – Marcus is heading into the final year of four-year, $64 million contract and will earn roughly $17 million next season.

https://twitter.com/Keefmorris/status/1671175483893985283

The Hawks would be Morris’ seventh team since entering the league as the No. 14 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

He spent the first couple of years of his career with the Houston Rockets before being traded to the Phoenix Suns who then traded him to the Detroit Pistons where the trend continued with a trade to the Boston Celtics. Morris signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks in 2019 but was traded to L.A. in 2020.

He might not be at the top of anyone’s list but the Hawks could do far worse than using the bulk of their TPE on Morris if their goal is to worry about this coming season. If not, they could look to spend on a younger option.