Montrezl Harrell surprised the basketball world on opening night of free agency by agreeing to a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. In leaving close friend Lou Williams and the LA Clippers for their crosstown rivals, Harrell even drew some surprising reactions from his former teammates in Patrick Beverley as well as Sindarius Thornwell.
🤦🏾♂️what🤬 https://t.co/44m24c60Ux
— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) November 21, 2020
@MONSTATREZZ aye bro we still cool right? I gotta check since U left Inglewood to go to Hollywood 🤣🤣
— sindarius thornwell (@Sin_City_803) November 21, 2020
Im bout call my dawg and give him hell like huh, u leave the guys and go to the enemy
— sindarius thornwell (@Sin_City_803) November 21, 2020
Montrezl Harrell made his signing with the Lakers official on Monday, which was quickly followed up by a press conference with members of the media. Among the questions asked was how Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley reacted to his decision to join the Lakers.
“As far as guys that I played with, they understand the business man,” Harrell said. “Honestly, I learned the business from those guys. Guys like Lou who got traded multiple in one season. Aa guy like Pat who i played the majority of my career with and ended up being in a trade with. they understand and they basically taught me this is a business. If you’re not one of the top tier players in our league, which we all know who those players are, everyone is expendable.”
Montrezl Harrell on Clippers’ Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley’s reaction to joining Lakers – “Honestly, they understand the business. I learned the business from those guys. They taught me this is a business. if you’re not a top tier player in our league, everyone is expendable.” pic.twitter.com/Rlrny5z6wA
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) November 23, 2020
Montrezl Harrell rose to the challenge this past season of becoming one of the Clippers’ key players. He averaged 18.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game on 58 percent shooting en route to the Sixth Man of the Year award. He won the award over now-teammate Dennis Schroder and former teammate as well as three-time Sixth Man Lou Williams.
The regular season success was strictly that, as the postseason inside the Orlando bubble presented multiple challenges from the passing of his grandmother and being behind on building chemistry to being put in tough positions against mismatches and struggling to help defensively.
Harrell now joins an NBA Championship core led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and head coach Frank Vogel. The trio will presumably cover all of Harrell’s weaknesses and allow him to flourish in their system. The first matchup between the Lakers and Clippers this season should be fun, to say the least.
