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LOS ANGELES – Montrezl Harrell didn’t make the trip lightly when he moved down the hall from Staples Center last weekend to join the Los Angeles Lakers.
The current NBA Sixth Man of the Year realizes the seriousness of his decision to leave the Los Angeles Clippers after three seasons, and to leave them for their biggest and most successful rivals within the city, no less.
However, the decision turned out to be surprisingly simple. According to Harrell, the NBA champions Lakers made it clear that they desperately wanted him in the opening minutes of free agency.
The Clippers didn’t.
“If you spend your career anywhere long enough, you want to keep playing and growing there,” Harrell said Monday (Tuesday Manila time). “Of course, I still have great respect for those guys and for that organization. But as to whether they wanted me back? Obviously, it just doesn’t seem like that, does it?”
The tenacious forward who plays much larger than his 6-foot-7 frame agreed to a two-year contract during the Lakers’ impressive wave of roster-building in the early days of free agency. Harrell appears to be a clear upgrade from Dwight Howard in the Lakers’ restructured lineup as a much younger player who brings a fuller offensive game and defensive intensity to the champions.
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“I’m definitely going to be with a team that loved me and with a group of guys that I’ll build chemistry with quickly,” Harrell said.
Harrell still had mixed emotions about leaving the Clippers, where he became a key player two seasons before Kawhi Leonard and Paul George arrived to transform the roster a year ago. Harrell, a former Houston second-round pick who spent time in the D-League as a rookie, Harrell strongly identified with the Clippers ‘perpetual underdog mentality, particularly when contrasted with the Lakers’ flags and glamor.
“When I was playing for the Clippers, I gave everything I had every night that I tied my shoes,” Harrell said. “Now that I’m here with the Los Angeles Lakers, that’s the same thing I want to do here. I’m lucky to be on a team that was strong and deep enough to win the tournament and the championship last year.”
Harrell is confident that he can get used to being on the other side of the power dynamic, especially since he will be competing for a championship. The Clippers crashed in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs in the bubble, while the Lakers went all the way with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
After his best regular season as a professional, Harrell received criticism for his playoff game in the bubble as he mourned the death of his grandmother, to whom he was extremely close.
After averaging 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds in the regular season, Harrell scored just 10.5 points and 2.9 rebounds in the playoffs for the Clippers, who blew a 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets to ruin the highly anticipated All -The Final of the Angels conference.
Harrell’s movement across the hall is important, but it’s not really that unusual. He is the last of more than 40 NBA players to dress for both Los Angeles teams since the Clippers moved from San Diego in 1984. The list includes Lamar Odom, Glen Rice, Ron Harper, Norm Nixon, Matt Barnes , Nick Young, Antawn Jamison, recent Lakers point guard Jared Dudley, and current Clippers point guard Lou Williams.
Harrell was quite successful in pick-and-roll situations with Williams in the Clippers’ second unit, and he could be just as dangerous with James’ playing or Dennis Schröder, the Lakers’ newly acquired spark plug point guard. Harrell could also be a good fit on defense alongside Davis, the center-size big man who prefers forwards on guard.
While that new chemistry will take time to develop, the Lakers’ roster reconfiguration suggests they will be strong contenders to repeat.
Along with Schröder and Harrell, the Lakers confirmed the addition of Wesley Matthews and the renewals of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Markieff Morris in the past two days. Veteran great Marc Gasol is on his way to join his older brother’s former team in place of the inconsistent JaVale McGee, while Alex Caruso returns alongside Kyle Kuzma and Talen Horton-Tucker.
The Lakers are still waiting to rehire Davis when he decides on the preferred size and length of his contract, but that near formality will be the culminating move in general manager Rob Pelinka’s impressive two years of roster building.
After spending last season alongside Leonard and George, Harrell can’t wait to line up alongside Davis and James when training camp opens next week.
“To complement the Lakers, that’s not a difficult thing to do,” Harrell said. “You’re playing two great superstars in this league. Their record speaks for itself. I don’t think it takes a lot to get used to.”
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