Player Review: What Does Montrezl Harrell's Monster Season Mean for LA?

The NBA season has been suspended for just over a month now, and the longer the suspension is in place, it becomes more likely that this campaign does not resume. And if that's the case, then there's a possibility that we've seen Montrezl Harrell play his last game for the LA Clippers.

The team's star sixth man is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and while the Clippers do have a few advantages that could keep him in Los Angeles, the franchise could easily be outbid by a rival team.

It was always the biggest decision the team was going to have to make following the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season. Harrell, a fan favorite and valuable contributor, is worth much more than what he's currently being paid — and he knows it.

We'll take a deeper look at this later in the article, but for now, we'll focus on the events that brought us to this pivotal moment.

Beginnings

Harrell came to the team via the Chris Paul trade, which also delivered Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams to Los Angeles. He's always been a beast on the court, but he struggled to earn a lot of playing time as a member of the Houston Rockets — in his final season with the team, he ranked 10th in minutes per game.

But even then, he made the most of what he was given. Harrell was still able to average 9.1 points and 3.8 rebounds, with his best outing being a 29-point performance against the Clippers in December 2016.

He's taken massive steps forward since coming to LA, posting new career-high numbers almost across the board with each successive season. With that, his minutes have gone up considerably as well — Harrell was getting just 17 a game in his first season with the Clippers, compared to 27.8 this season.

It's been clear for a while that he's had a big payday coming his way. He signed a two-year, $12 million deal in 2018 after his rookie contract expired, which was seen as something of a value buy back then — well before he was widely considered to be one of the best reserves in the game.

Now, Harrell is competing with Williams for the Sixth Man of the Year Award, and many teams would gladly pay for him to be a part of their starting rotation.

That said, evaluating his worth isn't the easiest thing to do. To get a better idea of that, we'll need to take a closer look at his performance this season.

Performance

Harrell came into the season with lofty expectations. Along with Williams, he was a big reason why the Clippers were able to stay afloat even after trading Tobias Harris to the Philadelphia 76ers. Being able to maintain that consistency off the bench helped the team earn its first playoff berth since the Lob City era, and we're all familiar with his efforts during the team's surprising first-round series against the Golden State Warriors.

Add in the fact that LA brought in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George over the summer — two stars in desperate need of someone like Harrell on the roster — and it's obvious that he was going to need to have a big season.

Suffice to say, Harrell delivered.

Although he wasn't as efficient in 2019-2020, Harrell once again posted career-highs in several of the major categories. His 18.6 points per game put him among the league's best scorers off the bench, his 7.1 rebounds were an improvement upon the 6.5 he averaged last year, and he shot the ball — and made it — more than ever before.

Averages don't always tell the story, though. Harrell grew in more ways than one this season, and one of the major ways is in terms of his decision-making.

In the past, we've seen Harrell get flustered under the basket. That tends to end in one of two ways: Either he powers through those around him and finishes through a ridiculous amount of contact, or he gets blocked. Rarely, if ever, did he kick the ball out to the corner or wing, where there was usually a wide-open triple waiting to be had.

He certainly made some mistakes under the basket this season, but we did see him start to look to the perimeter. Players like Landry Shamet, JaMychal Green and Reggie Jackson have made it easier to do so, but the fact that Harrell is looking to pass more often than he has before is a good sign.

One of Harrell's best skills is his finesse. You wouldn't expect someone so burly and physical to have such a soft touch or be able to run the floor as well as he does, but both of those are reasons why he's such a dangerous player in the fast break. He's capable of catching just about any pass that's thrown his way as well, with hands as reliable as a star tight end's. The Clippers test him on this a bit more than I'd like by throwing mindless full-court passes to him, but it's easy to understand why they do.

Harrell's biggest weakness is his defense. He gives all the effort in the world on that end of the floor, but 6-feet-7-inches, he struggles to hold his own against some of the game's bigger centers and forwards. This has especially been exposed when he runs with the starters in the second half of games. Running a small ball lineup with a non-shooter at the 5 isn't always a great choice.

Nevertheless, Harrell impressed in the biggest role of his career this season, and he should be commended for it. There are still areas where he needs to improve, but he did what he was asked and put up some of his best numbers for a team competing for a spot in the NBA Finals.

Grade: A-

Outlook

Given Harrell's performance this season, there's a legitimate chance that he priced himself out of the LA Clippers' range. He's also represented by Klutch Sports, and those players tend to get markedly larger deals.

That said, the league's suspension — and the possible cancellation of the season — has thrown something of a wrench into free agency. There are more questions than answers right now, but we do know that the cap could decrease by a significant amount, meaning teams will have less money to work with.

That could increase the odds that the Clippers retain Harrell this summer, if the franchise is so inclined. On the other hand, it could result in Harrell trying to maximize his pay by signing elsewhere, since money will be so tight.

But if winning is Harrell's top priority, he should look no further than the LA Clippers when he tests the market. The franchise has shown him time and time again that it's willing to make Harrell an important piece of the roster and give him all the minutes he desires, even if that can sometimes have unintended consequences.

Time will tell if Harrell has a future with the Clippers, but if we truly have seen the last of him, he's proven that he deserves any amount of money that a team wants to throw at him.