Getty Former Los Angeles Lakers center Montrezl Harrell.
After the Los Angeles Lakers won a championship in 2020, they put together an interesting offseason that saw them add a number of notable players. Perhaps the most surprising was when the team convinced Montrezl Harrell to leave the Clippers. He was coming off winning the Sixth Man of the Year award and not many expected the Clippers to let him go.
Harrell didn’t find nearly the same amount of success with the Lakers and he became a bit of a headache. The team traded him to the Washington Wizards as part of the Russell Westbrook trade from last year. Harrell played out his contract and hit free agency this offseason. He was charged with marijuana trafficking this offseason but that was reduced to misdemeanor possession by a Madison County Kentucky Courthouse recently.
With the charges getting reduced, Harrell has finally landed with a new team. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the center is signing a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.
ESPN Sources: Free agent C Montrezl Harrell is signing two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, including a player option. Harrell brings more toughness to a team searching for it this offseason. He was Sixth Man of the Year with Doc Rivers/Sam Cassell in 2019-2020 w/ Clippers.
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Sixers Are Perfect Landing Spot for Harrell
The move to Philadelphia makes a lot of sense for Harrell. Doc Rivers remains the head coach of the 76ers and he coached the center with the Clippers for four seasons. Harrell enjoyed his best years under Rivers, including the season he won Sixth Man of the Year.
Harrell has made it clear before that he prefers to come off the bench. That won’t be an issue in Philadelphia as he’ll be playing behind five-time All-Star Joel Embiid. He’s arguably the best center in the NBA right now and he’ll now have a capable backup in Harrell. Rivers knows how to maximize the 6-foot-7 center’s talents. It remains to be seen if Harrell can recapture the success he had in Los Angeles but he’s at least headed in the right direction.
Harrell Previously Said Lakers Misused Him
Harrell is a unique player in that he’s a center who is much shorter than most NBA centers. That’s made him a defensive liability in the past but he’s capable of scoring a lot of points. Two seasons ago, the Lakers were a team built for defense which didn’t help Harrell out. He was open about the fact that he wasn’t a fit with the purple and gold.
“Honestly, man, I’m trying to just get back to playing basketball freely and just get back to enjoying the game and just being able to help my team on both ends of the floor,” Harrell said last year, via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “I didn’t really get to be utilized how I wanted to be last year. I damn near felt like I had a season off. So, I’m using this preseason to really ramp back up and knock off a lot of the rust on my own game, really.”
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Controversial Ex-Lakers Big Man Lands Multi-Year Contract With Contender