The Los Angeles Lakers plan to waive one of their biggest signings from last offseason, DeMarcus Cousins, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.

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The former All-Star is a reportedly a popular player in the locker room, but on the court, he’s been unable to contribute in the slightest, after suffering a torn ACL in August. 

The team was able to apply for a disabled player exception since Cousins is set to miss the entire season. The exception is still worth $1.75 million, which is much higher than the league minimum of $694,702.

News of Cousins’ release is surprising, considering head coach Frank Vogel was optimistic about his return for a playoff run over All-Star weekend: “I’m not even sure where he’s at with exactly what he’s doing day-to-day. I just still know he’s a long way away, but they’ve said they’re not ruling out him returning.”

Cousins is expected to be waived in order for the team to bring in newly released forward, Markieff Morris. Morris will be joining his brother, Clippers forward Marcus Morris in Los Angeles. 

“That’s my brother man. Man, if he goes to L.A., then I’m gonna be in Staples Center all the time. I think maybe to y’all it might be weird that I’m going to all his games, but that’s what’ll probably happen. And we’ll probably get a house together,” Marcus said, in regards to his brother joining the Lakers.

Morris clears waivers on Sunday, at which point, Cousins would be officially released.

The Detroit Pistons reached a contract buyout with Markieff Morris on Friday afternoon, paving the way for the 30-year old forward to sign with a title-contender of his choosing. And he might soon be joining his twin brother in Los Angeles, although not as a member of the Clippers.

According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, the Lakers have instantly emerged as the favorites to sign Markieff, after they failed to pull of a trade for his twin brother, Marcus.

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The Lakers were in talks with the New York Knicks to acquire Marcus Morris ahead of the NBA trade deadline but they were ultimately beat out by the Los Angeles Clippers, who traded a 2020 first round pick and Moe Harkless to NY in exchange for the veteran forward. Now, it looks like they'll have to settle for Markieff's services, although Shams Charania notes that the Toronto Raptors have also expressed interest.

In 44 games with the Pistons, Markieff averaged 11 points and 3.9 rebounds while playing in under 23 minutes per game. 

Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers has always been a feisty player out on the court. More often than not, Embiid is finding himself in scuffles that typically go his way. On Tuesday, this happened once again as he went toe-to-toe with Marcus Morris of the Los Angeles Clippers. Morris was recently acquired by the Clippers and he has been making an impact early. Last night, the Sixers beat the Clippers 110-103 and at one point, Morris and Embiid found themselves in a shoving match. 

In the clip below, Morris locks up Embiid's arm and in an attempt to get away, Embiid swats Morris away. This led to a big push from Morris who seemed pretty upset over what went down. Both teams came in to split up the players and eventually, things simmered down.

Today was supposed to be a big day for the Los Angeles Lakers. Heading into the trade deadline, it was apparent that the team needed a few extra pieces in order to become a sure-fire contender for the NBA Championship. So far, the deadline has come and gone and the Lakers haven't made a single trade. Earlier today, it was reported that the Lakers were in contention for Marcus Morris of the New York Knicks but he ended up going to the Los Angeles Clippers. Of course, the Clippers are the Lakers' biggest rival right now.

According to Shams Charania, Morris could have been a Laker if the team had given up young star Kyle Kuzma. The Lakers have been adamant about holding on to Kuzma and, once again, the Lakers passed up an offer because of their strong feelings towards him.

Perhaps the most exciting rivalry in the NBA this season has been the battle of Los Angeles between the Lakers and the Clippers. The Lakers are currently the best team in the Western Conference while the Clippers are a close second. Some feel like the Clippers are better suited for the playoffs while the Lakers still need more pieces if they want to go ahead and win it all. Over the last couple of days, it was rumored that the Clippers and Lakers would battle for Marcus Morris of the New York Knicks, at the trade deadline.

According to Shams Charania of the Athletic, the Clippers won the battle as they acquired Morris in exchange for Moe Harkless and what is assumed to be some draft picks. The Knicks were hoping to get Kyle Kuzma from the Lakers but the latter wasn't willing to give him up, hence the deal with the Clippers.

Marcus Morris has been in the news quite a bit lately although it hasn’t exactly been for the greatest of reasons. He was criticized for sexist comments following a fight with Jae Crowder of the Memphis Grizzlies and now, his conduct with the San Antonio Spurs is being brought up again. For those who don’t know, Morris made a verbal commitment to the Spurs this offseason although he ended up signing a one-year deal with the New York Knicks, instead.

In a piece by Michael Scotto of Bleacher Report, it was revealed that Morris actually ghosted the Spurs which angered them quite a bit, especially since they ended up trading Davis Bertans to make room for the star. As Scotto describes, Morris treated the Spurs like a bad date.

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“Morris essentially treated the Spurs like a person who goes on a first and second date and then ghosts the other person, leaving them to question what went wrong,” Scotto wrote.

Heading into this offseason, it will be interesting to see what Morris decides to do. He will be a free agent again and thanks to what he did to the Spurs, teams will be wary of his verbal agreements. Perhaps teams will force him to put pen to paper before making the same mistake as the Spurs.

The New York Knicks' season hit rock bottom on Wednesday night, as the team suffered another blowout loss at home, this time against the Memphis Grizzlies. That's not a knock against the Grizz, who improved to 24-24 with their 127-106 victory, but what transpired in the final minute of the game as well as afterward, was nothing short of embarrassing. 

Emotions were riding high at the Memphis Grizzlies versus New York Knicks game on Wednesday (January 26) evening. The two teams went head-to-head at Madison Square Garden and tensions were thick enough to boil over into an all-out brawl on the court. In the last minute of the game, Grizzlies' Jae Crowder was tucked in the corner for a three, but instead, he received a hard, purposeful shove by Knicks' Elfrid Payton.

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Crowder jumped up to defend himself, and before things could become any more physical between the two men, team members and staff jumped off both benches and ran towards the scene. Some were attempting to keep the two men away from each other, but in the scuffle, other fires were being lit between other team members.

The Grizzlies were able to best the Knicks 127 to 106, and it seems that some players took issue with Crowder attempting a three-pointer with such a strong lead and only seconds left in the game. It's not yet clear what disciplinary action will be taken, but it's obvious from the video that Payton was the aggressor.

"WITH ALL DUE RESPECT I ONLY PLAY ONE WAY AND THATS HARD TIL THE BUZZER SOUNDS," Crowder later tweeted to someone. "IM SORRY IF IT DISGUSTS YOU. I KNOW KNICKS ARE YOUR TEAM BUT U SHOULD TELL THEM TO PLAY HARDER AND LESS TALKING.! ??‍♂️" Check out the fight, along with Marcus Morris calling Crowder "soft" and "unprofessional" below.