NBA Rumors: Montrezl Harrell Feels Clippers Won’t Want Him Back After Joining Lakers

One of the big and surprising moves this NBA offseason was the decision of Montrezl Harrell to join the Los Angeles Lakers.

Having made big strides with the Clippers, most felt that the 26-year-old would stay on since arriving from the Houston Rockets as part of the Chris Paul trade in 2017.

The Clippers took their sweet time of re-signing Harrell. For the 2020 NBA Sixth Man of the Year awardee, it felt like the Steve Ballmer-owned franchise was not that keen on wanting him back.

"If you spend your career in any place long enough, you're going to want to continue playing there and growing there," Harrell said at a Zoom media session via the Associated Press. "Of course, I still have great respect for those guys and for that organization. But as far as if they wanted me back? Obviously, it just doesn't seem that way, does it?"

It is worth noting that the Clippers had all the advantages over the Lakers in re-signing Harrell if they wanted to. That included holding full Bird Rights, meaning they could pay the 6-foot-7 player anything up to his maximum salary.

The Lakers pitched a $19 million offer to Harrell, and there is no official word on what the Clippers offered.

The Buss Family Trust-bankrolled organization was limited to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and used all of that on Harrell.

It could not be verified what the Clippers offered Harrell, assuming there was one offered at all.

Harrell also got feelers from the Charlotte Hornets who allegedly offered more money than the Lakers, Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported.

From there, it was clear that Harrell wanted to be part of something big, like possibly winning his first NBA title with the purple and gold this coming 2020-21 season.

Together with Harrell, there is no question the Lakers got even stronger with their recruits heading into the new NBA season. Aside from him, they also acquired Dennis Schroder, Wes Matthews and Marc Gasol.

Harrell is expected to play a key role in the Lakers back-to-back title campaign. He could end up being a Laker for life, assuming he fits well with the system of Frank Vogel and gets along well with resident stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.