NBA News: 13-Year Vet Snatched Off Buyout Market To Join East Title Hopeful

13-year NBA combo forward Marcus Morris, who has logged time with two title hopefuls this season in the Los Angeles Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers, reportedly has a new league home. The 6'8" former lottery pick is set to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. The 34-year-old has agreed to a 10-day contract with the club. Per Charania, the Cavs anticipate that Morris will be able to suit up for the team in time for tonight's bout against the Indiana Pacers.

Morris was selected with the No. 14 pick in a deep 2011 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, behind twin brother Markieff, who was picked by the Phoenix Suns. Marcus quickly joined Markieff, before moving on to stints with the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and most recently the LA Clippers. In his prime, he was a critical, switchable combo forward who could nail jumpers and defend multiple positions.

But of late, he's fallen off a bit as he's aged. This year, Morris was out of the rotation on Tyronn Lue's super-deep Clippers team to start the season, but emerged as a reliable bench floor spacer after being shipped out to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of the James Harden trade. Across 37 bouts (seven starts) with Nick Nurris' Philly squad, he posted averages of 6.7 points on .439/.400/861 shooting splits, 2.9 rebounds and 0.7 dimes, during 17.2 minutes per bout. That's his lowest output since his rookie season in 2011-12, but then again, he is now effectively in his NBA dotage.

Morris boasts career averages of 12.1 points on a .435/.377/.775 slash line, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.7 blocks per game. He's appeared in 820 career regular season games, including 509 starts. Again, at his peak, he was a starter on several deep playoff clubs in Boston and LA.

Morris and his expiring $17.1 million contract were flipped to the San Antonio Spurs by the 76ers at this year's trade deadline as part of a three-team deal that also included the Indiana Pacers. San Antonio quickly bought him out on February 29th so that he could link up with a contending team as a free agent. Third-year power forward Evan Mobley has been unavailable due to a left ankle sprain for several weeks, so Morris could earn some instant bench minutes behind Mobley's back-up, stretch four Georges Niang.

It's a savvy move for the 42-25 Cavaliers, who currently occupy the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Morris has been a venerated locker room presence for a while, and can give the club some toughness and shooting on the court in the short-term. Long-term, of course, Cleveland no doubt hopes that Mobley will return, which could mean Morris becomes a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency reserve when that happens.