Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking their three best contracts
Montrezl Harrell
The fact that Montrezl Harrell is making less than Tomas Satoransky proves that people overreact to postseason performances. Was Harrell significantly worse in the playoffs than the regular season? Yes. Should that have tanked his value in free-agency when over half of the league would just be happy to make the playoffs? No.
When the 2020-21 season comes to an end, people are going to be wondering how the hell the rest of the league let the Lakers snag Harrell for two-years and $18.9 million. He just came off of a season where he averaged 18.6 points per game on 58.0 percent shooting, which is eye-popping enough before you realize he did that in only 27.8 minutes per game en route to winning Sixth Man of the Year.
Not only was Harrell a very good player last season, his biggest deficiencies, protecting the paint and outside shooting, are largely mitigated playing alongside Anthony Davis. All of the issues that made him unplayable against the Denver Nuggets will be moot because Davis will be the one stopping Nikola Jokic.
Harrell’s contract covers his age 27 and 28 seasons, two prime years, meaning the only downside for the Lakers is if he gets injured. Championship-winning teams usually have a hard time upgrading their rosters. Harrell is simply a better player than either JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard and is a much better fit next to Anthony Davis.
The dirty secret that the Lakers probably haven’t told anyone is that this contract is also perfect to use in a package for another star player. Harrell is good, cheap, and on the right side of 30 which could play a pivotal role in enticing any team with a disgruntled star player.
The Lakers are hoping that this roster will be good enough that an upgrade of that magnitude won’t be needed, but it’s always good to have movable contracts when the arms race at the top of the league has escalated in the way that it has. Montrezl Harrell might have cost the LA Clippers a title but he could very well win one for the Lakers.