Getty What would the trade market hold for Montrezl Harrell? They Lakers may never know.
It would make sense for the Lakers, as next week’s NBA trade deadline looms, to investigate the market for center Montrezl Harrell. While he has been a solid contributor offensively off the bench, he can be a liability defensively and will be difficult to keep on the floor in tight playoff situations—that was the rap on him with the Clippers last season. It does not help that Harrell’s strength is on the pick-and-roll, a play the Lakers simply don’t run much.
And Harrell has a very team-friendly contract, with a player option at $9.7 million for next year. He was a commodity as a free agent this offseason but signed with the Lakers at a less-than-market price to give himself a chance at signing a bigger contract in the summer of 2021.
As one scout said, the Clippers made it clear they wanted a sign-and-trade for Montrezl Harrell entering free agency. And then the Lakers landed him – for a lot less than anyone expected.
More intel on the intersections of LA offseasons here…
Harrell, then, is a likely short-timer with the Lakers and would be an ideal trade chip for teams who want him for a longer term. The trade deadline is March 25 and we would be hearing more about Harrell on the market except for one major factor: As one general manager says, “He’s Klutch.”
Yes, Harrell is represented by Rich Paul and Klutch Sports, which now has five Lakers under its wing—Harrell, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Talen Horton-Tucker and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. And when you’re represented by Klutch, which (other agents grumble) is controlled as much by James as it is Paul, the Lakers are just are not going to trade you.
The Lakers, of course, would not have a championship without their Klutch cadre. But it also could be limiting them at this time of year.
ALL the latest Los Angeles Lakers news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Lakers newsletter here!
“There are a few teams that would have given (Harrell) more money, more years when he was a free agent,” one GM said. “But there was the Klutch connection, he wanted to win, they give him a good chance of that so he winds up giving up money to be there with LeBron. He can team up with the Lakers and all the Klutch guys, probably just for this year. Now we’re halfway through the season and it makes sense for the Lakers to try to trade him but you know it is pointless to ask. He’s Klutch. That’s it. Not going anywhere.”
Klutch’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Was Never a Trade Candidate
Last season, it was a similar situation with Klutch client Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the Lakers.
Caldwell-Pope had first signed with L.A. on an unnecessarily generous deal in 2017, getting $17.7 million when the going rate for his services was about half that. As Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus pointed out, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka used weirdly glowing language to describe the signing of Caldwell-Pope, who had just averaged 13.8 points on a rather sad 39.9% shooting for Detroit the previous year.
“I guess I’ll start as I often do with a story,” Pelinka said at the time. “I would venture to guess there are people in the room that are familiar with the stories in the book of Genesis, where there was a time when the Israelites were wandering in the desert and, all of a sudden, bread came down from heaven. That’s kind of what today feels like for us to have KCP join.”
Lakers’ GM Rob Pelinka goes Old Testament in describing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope signing t.co/3mUFSFkgBS
What he meant by bread coming down was this: We got our first Klutch guy. More are coming. And they did.
The Lakers are indebted to KCP for opening the gate, so even as he struggled badly early in the season, with free agency ahead for him last year, he was never seriously considered as a trade candidate.
“It was just, ‘No,’” the GM said. “We asked. I would say a dozen teams asked about Kenny. He was having a hard time early last year so it is a good time to feel out the market on a guy like him. But it was always no. They did not say, ‘No, because he is Klutch,’ but that is the feeling we had and I don’t think I was alone.”
Klutch’s Talen Horton-Tucker Staying Put, Too?
The Lakers survived and won a championship after holding onto KCP last season, and he made some critical shots along the way to the Lakers’ ultimate victory. But what if the Lakers were—and maybe still are—holding themselves back by not dealing Caldwell-Pope for a more legitimate upgrade? And what if they’re doing that same thing with Harrell this season?
In the bigger picture, the Lakers and Klutch may be setting things up for the offseason for 20-year-old forward Talen Horton-Tucker, a player who could be best served going to a rebuilding team on which he could get bigger minutes. It would make sense, in that case, for the Lakers to deal away THT and his future promise for experienced help in trying to win this championship here in 2021.
LeBron James recalls urging Klutch Sports to take a look at Talen Horton-Tucker when he was in high school:
Horton-Tucker is a restricted free agent after the season and could be in line for a contract this offseason worth as much as $82 million, a deal the Lakers could not afford. It makes sense for the Lakers to seek a deal for him.
But Horton-Tucker is Klutch.
“I’d be shocked if he wound up going anywhere,” another front-office executive said. “There is a reason LeBron and AD talk so highly of him. It is because of Klutch, they know to pump his tires when it Is needed. I suppose he could be traded but for most of us in the front offices, that would be a real shock. It would probably help them to trade him. In this kind of situation, the Klutch-Lakers thing really hurts them.”
The net result, then, is that the Lakers have three trade chips (plus the team’s two stars) who would likely fetch a decent price out in the NBA’s trade universe. But the three—Caldwell-Pope, Horton-Tucker and Harrell—are all repped by Klutch.
For personnel types around the league, that means no deal.
READ NEXT: Rockets Starter ‘Frustrated,’ Lakers Have ‘Discussed’ Trade: Report