LeBron James helped to prevent Markieff Morris from retiring following Luka Doncic trade

When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired star guard Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks last month, two other players came along with him: veterans Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris.

Kleber has yet to appear in a game for the Lakers due to injury, but Morris has seen some action, appearing in five games with L.A.

Apparently, Morris wasn’t sure about continuing his NBA career upon learning that he was being traded. However, his destination (the Lakers) and a conversation with a certain someone (Lakers star LeBron James) seemingly swayed him.

Morris is 35 years old and hasn’t appeared in more than 35 games in a single season since the 2020-21 campaign, so it maybe isn’t a huge surprise that a trade at this stage of his career had him contemplating retirement. Knowing that he was thinking about walking away, Lakers fans should perhaps also be prepared for the possibility that he will retire following this season.

But for now, he’s a member of an L.A. squad that is building some serious momentum in the Western Conference, even if his role is just to be a veteran presence more than anything else.

Morris has history with both James and the Lakers. He spent almost two seasons with L.A. earlier in his career and played alongside James during them, with the highlight of that stretch coming when the Lakers won the 2020 NBA Finals.

Now, James is happy to have to him back.

“I missed him,” James told the Los Angeles Times earlier this month. “… 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.”

During the 2020 NBA Playoffs, Morris appeared in 21 games for the Lakers en route to their championship. If the squad goes on a similar run this season, he isn’t likely to play that type of role, but it’s a safe bet that he’ll still be adding value in other ways as a guy who has seen just about everything there is to see in the NBA.

The Lakers, who are on a three-game winning streak, are now 43-25 on the season and remain within striking distance of the No. 2 spot in the West. L.A. has 14 regular-season games remaining before everything starts to matter a little bit more.