The NBA is where amazing happens and that’s not just a motto. Year after year, players and teams make surprising moves that no one, not even the most connected insider ever saw coming.
This offseason, that move was Montrezl Harrell leaving the Los Angeles Clippers to join the Los Angeles Lakers. In fact, it wasn’t shocking to see Harrell leave his current team, but joining their city rivals on a discount seemed like a bit of a statement.
Everyone around the league feels like Harrell could’ve gotten more money and/or more years elsewhere, so the fact that he specifically decided to join the Clippers’ biggest threat in the Western Conference was kind of shocking.
Montrezl Harrell Says The Lakers ‘Play Basketball’
Moreover, Harrell hasn’t hesitated to throw some shadeatthe former franchise, teammates, locker room, and coaching from every now and then. This time, he added that it’s nice to play for a team that ‘plays basketball’:
“It’s really just being able to just play my game and just not being kind of told, ‘You always got to be this, this or this. It’s kind of been the system I’ve kind of been playing in for a while. It’s got to be threes, layups, or let’s get free throws,” Harrell told The Orange County Register.
“But that’s not like that over here. They play to the style of everybody’s game and we’re not looking at anybody that, ‘You have to do this, you got to do that,’ man. We play basketball over here. It’s a free-flowing game,” he added.
The Clippers have been heavily criticized lately for the way they handled the egos, the practice schedule, and the lack of adjustments they made throughout the season. So perhaps, this is more of a shot at Doc Rivers than to the organization per sé.
Harrell Says That He Signed With The Lakers Because Of His Family
And, when asked about why he decided to sign a 2-year, $19 million deal with the Lakers rather than pursue a more lucrative contract elsewhere, he simply said that he made the right decision for his family:
“I have a family I have to provide for, so my decision was my decision. I talked with my family and people in my tight circle, and this is what we felt was best for me,” the reigning Sixth Man of the Year concluded.
At the end of the day, we’ll never know for a fact what happened between the Clippers, Klutch Sports, and Montrezl Harrell. What we can be sure about is that the Lakers are thrilled about getting such a productive player at that price rate.
