Montrezl Harrell Returns To Sixers With One-Year Deal
Montrezl Harrell Returns To Sixers With One-Year Deal
Nobody tell Mike.
Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
The Sixers are bringing back free agent big Montrezl Harrell on a one-year deal, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Harrell, who signed with the Sixers last summer, failed to become a mainstay of the team’s rotation, and saw very little action at all in the final few months of the season. This is, frankly, a reunion that I did not expect either side to have interest in. But Harrell, 29, will return to Philadelphia for his second season with the Sixers — especially considering the departure of former Sixers Head Coach Doc Rivers, who has a strong relationship with Harrell dating back to their days together with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Sixers agreed to a one-year deal with fellow free agent big Mo Bamba on Wednesday, and given Bamba’s age and more recent production, one would assume Harrell falls behind the former top-five pick on the depth chart.
This means, if the Sixers indeed bring back restricted free agent big Paul Reed — who overtook Harrell’s backup center spot last season — Harrell would be slated in as the team’s fourth-string center. That could also impact another big in the organization: Filip Petrusev, a Sixers draft-and-stash second-round pick in 2021 who has been rumored to have interest in coming over to the NBA for the 2023-24 season.
Multiple reporters insisted after the Bamba signing that the move not impact the chances of Reed returning. Bamba is a capable backup, making him more than a solid third-string center behind Reed and, of course, reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid.
And so, while Reed’s fate remains up in the air — as does that of Petrusev — the Sixers filled one spot at the end of their bench and center rotation Thursday night with Harrell.
An unlikely reunion, to be sure.