4. Montrezl Harrell
The Los Angeles Lakers got one of the best steals of the offseason when they signed Montrezl Harrell to a two-year, $18.9 million contract. Harrell, however, does have a player option after this season that he is most likely going to utilize.
There was a storm of different variables that led to the reigning Sixth Man of the Year not getting his fair share contract-wise. First was the impact that the covid shutdown had on the salary cap. Teams did not spend as much and we saw players like Harrell signings short-term deals knowing that their market value would increase the following year.
Not only that, but Harrell was put in a terrible situation by former head coach Doc Rivers, who trusted a bit too much in him playing center against Nikola Jokic. He got torched in the NBA Playoffs and that left a sour taste in many people’s mouths.
Harrell has been playing great this season and deserves to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award once more. In fact, the last NBA Sixth Man of the Year winner to have as high of a win shares per 48 minutes as Harrell this season was James Harden in 2013.
I heard that Harden guy is pretty good.
Harrell has already upped his value and is going to look to do the opposite in the NBA Playoffs this year by raising his value even more.