Did ex-Laker Markieff Morris take shot at LeBron James?

Markieff Morris made some comments this week that could be interpreted as a parting shot at one of his former teammates.

The new Miami Heat forward spoke Wednesday with Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. In the interview, Morris spoke about how easily the ball moves in the Heat offense.

“I feel like we have nobody on the team like just, ‘Give him the ball, and then everybody just watch and let them make the play,'” he said. “It’s a collective. We’re going to need everybody to score and rebound and defend every night. And that’s the best team to be on, when you don’t have to run to the corner every play and wait for a guy to make a play for you.”

Morris also said that he expected to be back with the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason and was taken aback when he was not re-signed.

“I really didn’t expect it,” he added. “It’s business sometimes. There isn’t too much I can say about that. It was super unexpected. For sure, I thought I was going back to the Lakers. But, sometimes I’m not in teams’ plans and that’s how it works sometimes.”

Morris’ comments certainly seem to read as a shot at James and the Lakers. James once again had one of the highest usage rates in the NBA last season, and much of the Lakers’ offense has revolved around waiting for James to penetrate and make a play for others.

The 32-year-old Morris did win an NBA title with the Lakers in 2020. But he had scant averages in his Lakers career of 6.0 shot attempts in 18.7 minutes per game. Morris rarely hides the way that he truly feels, and this seems to be another instance of that.