According to reports, the Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to re-sign restricted free agent center Montrezl Harrell to a contract worth $12 million over two years.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN broke the news earlier today:
Restricted free agent center Montrezl Harrell has agreed to a two-year, $12M deal to return to the Clippers, agent Drew Rosenhaus tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 21, 2018
Montrezl Harrell Re-Signs With Los Angeles Clippers
Montrezl Harrell was one of several players the Los Angeles Clippers received in the Chris Paul trade. Harrell did not receive many minutes to begin the season and was stuck behind DeAndre Jordan and Willie Reed on the depth chart. However, Harrell was so effective in his limited minutes that he eventually usurped Reed in the rotation. Reed was eventually dealt to the Detroit Pistons as part of the Blake Griffin trade in January. Harrell’s elite finishing ability in the paint led him to score 11 points per game last season, shooting 63.5 percent from the field (third best in the NBA).
Harrell kept getting better as the season went on. He recorded 16 points per game in the month of April, despite only averaging 25.2 minutes per game. In fact, he averaged a staggering 23.3 points per 36 minutes for the season. Harrell has never been much of shooter and that did not change last season. He shot just 62.6 percent from the free throw line and went 1-7 from three. He’s not much of a distributor either, recording only one assist per game.
Despite his limitations, Harrell can still be incredibly valuable to an offense, because he is so dominant once he gets the ball in the paint. Harrell is not a dominant rebounder and part of that is due to playing a lot of minutes at center despite being only 6’8″. However, his energy more than makes up for his physical stature and he averaged a respectable four rebounds per game. Harrell is only 24 years old and still has time to expand his game. At $6 million per season, the Clippers got a good value for the young center.
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