The LA Clippers and Montrezl Harrell have "mutual interest" in a new contract, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 The LA Clippers have plenty of decisions to work through this offseason after their early exit from
00:03 the second round of the NBA playoffs. The NBA draft is not so much an issue given LA's lack
00:08 of selections as they have the number 57 pick in this year's draft, but free agency will require
00:13 a lot more attention. Marcus Morris, Montrose Harrell, Patrick Patterson, and Rudy Jackson will
00:18 all become unrestricted free agents, while Demunckle Green has a player option for the
00:21 upcoming season. It's unknown how the franchise will approach most of those decisions, but
00:26 according to Athletic's Sean Sterania, LA and Harrell have mutual interest in working toward a
00:30 new contract. The reigning sixth man of the year had an impressive regular season, posting career
00:35 high numbers in points with 18.6 and rebounds of 7.1, but his postseason performance was a lot to
00:41 be desired. Harrell averaged just 10.5 points and 2.9 rebounds in about 19 minutes per game,
00:47 and was almost unplayable at times. His size and defensive limitations meant a liability against
00:51 Denver's Nikola Jokic, and he struggled to get anything going against Bobo Marjanovic in LA's
00:56 first-round series in the Dallas Mavericks. Harrell wasn't necessarily put in the best
01:00 position to succeed, and he would have had a much better series against Denver if he wasn't
01:04 on the floor with Jokic, for example, but the issues that surfaced certainly aren't going
01:08 anywhere either. There are also some chemistry issues to consider as Harrell reportedly got
01:12 into an altercation with Paul George in Game 2 against the Nuggets. Sterania notes that Harrell
01:17 is expected to have multiple suitors in free agency, so if the two sides are unable to come
01:21 to terms to a deal, he'll almost certainly end up playing basketball elsewhere in 2021.
01:26 Additionally, Sterania reports that Green will have multiple teams interested in his talents as
01:30 well if he chooses to opt out of his current contract, which is worth just over $5 million.
01:34 Based on his performance in the postseason, there's a good chance he could earn more on a new deal as
01:39 well. Make no mistake, LA will have very difficult decisions to make no matter how it approaches free
01:44 agency this offseason. The current system simply isn't working for the Clippers, and with the
01:49 franchise entering what could be the final year of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George's partnership,
01:53 there's no telling what changes will be made to the roster before the beginning of the 2021 NBA season.