A few days ago, the Los Angeles Lakers shocked the NBA when they signed free agent big man Montrezl Harrell away from the Los Angeles Clippers.
Shortly afterward, he spoke diplomatically about how his former Clippers teammates Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams reacted to the news.
“Honestly, they understand the business,” said Harrell during his media availability. “I learned the business from those guys, guys like Lou who got traded multiple times in one season. A guy like Pat who I played majority of my career with, who I ended up being in a trade with. They taught me this is a business. No matter if you’re not a top tier player in our league, which we all know who those players are, everybody is expendable.”
When free agency officially began on Friday, it was generally acknowledged that the Lakers needed to get younger and more athletic, as well as build better quality depth for their bench.
Harrell meets those needs. He’s just 26 years of age, and he will bring outstanding speed and hops to a Laker team that loves to fast break and strike quickly on offense.
His ability to string together garbage baskets will also help the team maintain or even extend leads when LeBron James is resting.
Meanwhile, the Clippers’ vaunted bench has been greatly weakened, and they’ve also lost the feistiness that Harrell possesses in droves.
