Lake Show Life
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3 former Los Angeles Lakers who are off to red-hot starts this season

By Jason Reed

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 28: Montrezl Harrell #6 of the Washington Wizards celebrates in the second half against the Atlanta Hawks at Capital One Arena on October 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 28: Montrezl Harrell #6 of the Washington Wizards celebrates in the second half against the Atlanta Hawks at Capital One Arena on October 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

1. Montrezl Harrell

There is one former Laker who has stood out above the rest this season and that is Montrezl Harrell. Harrell was extremely frustrating to watch in the purple and gold and all the warning signs that Clipper fans sent to Laker fans ended up being true.

Harrell cannot stretch the floor and does not play good enough defense to warrant being out there in a playoff series. It felt like the Lakers could have mitigated the problem by putting him next to Anthony Davis and that did not really do much.

By the time the Lakers were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, it was clear that they had to move on from Harrell. Harrell, likely because he is a Klutch Sports client, decided he would still help the team out by accepting his player option and allowing the team to trade him instead of hitting free agency.

That might have been the best decision that he made for himself as Harrell has already increased his potential free-agent value thus far this season. Harrell is averaging 18.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, and more importantly, is playing pretty solid defense.

Harrell has posted an absurd 6.1 Box Plus/Minus thus far this season. To compare that to his peers, Harrell ranks sixth in the entire league in BPM with at least 250 minutes played. The five players ahead of him are Nikola Jokic, Jimmy Butler, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.

Quite the list.

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