Should The Miami Heat Sign Montrezl Harrell?
Once a dominant force off-the-bench earlier in his career with the Los Angeles Clippers, Montrezl Harrell has bounced around quite a bit since leaving the Clippers in 2020.
He spent the 2020-21 season with the Los Angeles Lakers and then Harrell was traded to the Washington Wizards in the massive 2021 offseason deal that brought All-Star Russell Westbrook to Los Angeles. The veteran big man was then dealt again during the 2021-22 season from the Washington Wizards to the Charlotte Hornets.
Now an unrestricted free agent, no teams have really shown a lot of interest in pursuing Montrezl Harrell this offseason. Maybe his asking price was initially a little bit too high for many teams to want to gamble on him, but now some teams have backed off completely due to Harrell being charged with trafficking in marijuana (less than five pounds) this offseason.
While he was supposed to appear in court on July 13, the hearing was continued to August 10, likely meaning that teams around the league who could still use some frontcourt depth will wait to see what happens with Harrell in court before possibly pursuing him.
Not many teams around the league are looking to add another center and very few teams actually have guaranteed roster spots left at this point in the offseason, but the Miami Heat are an interesting team to keep an eye on in regards to Montrezl Harrell.
The Heat currently sit at 12 guaranteed contracts for the 2022-23 season and they also have Haywood Highsmith on a partially-guaranteed contract. Jamaree Bouyea, Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson have all signed non-guaranteed training camp deals with Miami and both Darius Days and Marcus Garrett have signed two-way contracts with the team.
Bam Adebayo, Dewayne Dedmon and Omer Yurtseven make up the Heat’s frontcourt right now, but their lack of depth at the power forward position with the departure of P.J. Tucker is slightly concerning.
Having the ability to play either the power forward or center positions, Montrezl Harrell could be a very interesting fit for the Miami Heat to explore ahead of training camp, especially if he is willing to take a minimum-like contract.
Playing in 46 games with the Wizards and 26 games with the Hornets this past season, Harrell averaged a combined 13.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and shot 64.5% from the floor.
Harrell’s physicality is something that would match the Heat’s style of play defensively and he is another strong rebounding presence the team could add alongside Adebayo. This team could definitely improve in terms of rebounding as well, as they ranked 22nd in the league in that category a season ago.
Miami still has some roster spots to play around with this offseason and should his off-the-court issue be resolved, Harrell could be a very valuable addition for this team that is contending near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
