Marcus Morris recently made an appearance on First Take, but his opinions didn’t land nearly as the veteran forward had hoped. Morris had a string of bad takes while on the daily sports debate show. The 35-year-old dismissed the greatness of two NBA legends, leaving Stephen A. Smith outraged and stunned.
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Morris first claimed Nikola Jokic isn’t a top 20 player in the league, the definition of a bold-faced lie. The Nuggets star has won three MVPs in the last four seasons and could still win it this year, as well. However, considering Jokic’s previous altercation with Marcus’ brother, Markieff, fans could easily clock Morris’ bias.
His situation didn’t get any better after he was asked if Stephen Curry was the most feared player in the NBA. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s Steph Curry,” Morris shared. “Listen, he’s very respectable…. But I gotta disagree with you right there.”
“You know who I’mma go to? And I know this not gonna be your favorite,” Morris said to Smith. “But I’mma talk about number two over there with the Clipper nation, baby. I’m going with Kawhi Leonard.” Considering that he was once a teammate of Kawhi’s in LA, Morris’ take is hardly surprising, but that doesn’t mean it was well-received.
Stephen A. was immediately enraged upon hearing the two-time champion’s name. The longtime sports analyst made his disbelief known, calling Morris’ opinion “ridiculous”, but the 13-year veteran quickly chimed in to defend himself.
“Why? Because Kawhi, healthy, is a totally different player,” Morris continued. “Listen, offensively, Steph Curry, you know, three, four guys have to be on him. But Kawhi Leonard, offensively, defensively, you don’t even want him near the ball.”
Morris pointed to Steph’s reputation as a defensive liability as the main reason he views Leonard as the more feared talent. He believes that once a team has Curry figured out on defense, which hasn’t happened in just about 12 yars, his scoring outbursts aren’t nearly as debilitating. But teams can’t do that with Leonard, who is a dominant force on both sides of the ball.
“Something’s wrong with you Marcus! I cannot believe you just said that,” Stephen A. fired back with a smile. “Today, you had to take an L, and that take is an L,” Peter Rosenberg added emphatically. “I mean, horrible, and especially on the strength you just came back from downplaying Nikola Jokic into Kawhi Leonard.”
The First Take crew were clearly at their wits end with Morris’ off-the-wall takes. But, the journeyman forward stuck to his guns and refused to change his opinion throughout the fiery debate and quite a bit of yelling. One thing is for certain, by the end of the show, no one was happy on set.
