Former NBA big man Montrezl Harrell has found a new home for his career outside of the NBA. Harrell has agreed to a deal with the Adelaide 36ers of Australia's NBL, according to ESPN's Olgun Uluc.
“Harrell — a 6'7 power forward and 2020 NBA Sixth Man of the Year — will be an injury replacement for Jarell Martin, sources said,” Uluc reported. “Martin is recovered from his patellar tendon injury, but is dealing with a foot complaint that could keep him off the court until November.”
Harrell missed all of last season with an ACL injury. He played eight seasons in the NBA before that for six different teams, most recently as the backup center for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022-23.
Harrell's most successful stint in the NBA came with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he played three seasons from 2017-20. In 2019-20, Harrell was awarded the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award as the league's best bench player. During that season, Harrell averaged 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and was a crucial piece of a Clippers team that reached the second round in the bubble.
Evaluating Lakers' big man depth entering 2024-25
Anthony Davis is obviously the key cog in the Lakers' big man rotation, and nothing else matters if their star in the middle is injured or unavailable to play. Davis played in 76 games last season, marking a new career high, and had one of the best seasons of his career. “The Brow” landed on Second Team All-NBA after averaging 24.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game and also landed in fourth place in the Defensive Player of the Year race.
Behind Davis, the Lakers' front court is pretty barren. Obviously LeBron James is back and provides elite positional flexibility when he's out there. James can play power forward in small lineups or he can slide into the backcourt if the Lakers want to go big, which will allow new head coach JJ Redick to play around with a lot of different combinations.
If the Lakers do choose to go big, Rui Hachimura is another big, versatile wing who can space the floor and play defense while providing good positional size.
The question still remains what the Lakers are going to do when Davis is on the bench or if he has to miss games, and the prospective answers are similar to what they were in years past. Jaxson Hayes is back in the rotation as a hustle player who will work on the glass and hustle on defense, but it remains to be seen if his offensive limitations would hurt the Lakers if he's forced to play extended minutes.
Redick and company will also have Christian Wood back at some point when he recovers from his recent knee surgery. Wood can provide spacing off the bench and a much-needed scoring punch, but his defensive concerns have minimized his role in recent years.
