3:44pm: The Sixers have officially waived Harrell, the team confirmed in a press release.
3:02pm: The Sixers are waiving big man Montrezl Harrell in order to reach the regular season roster limit, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Philadelphia had been carrying 16 players on standard contracts and needed to get down to 15 before opening night. Harrell was one of 14 Sixers players whose salary for 2023/24 is fully guaranteed, but he underwent knee surgery in August after tearing his right ACL and medial meniscus, making him an obvious candidate to be released.
Harrell wasn’t a significant part of Philadelphia’s rotation last season, averaging 5.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in just 11.9 minutes per game across 57 appearances.
That made it a bit of a surprise when the 29-year-old re-signed with the 76ers on a one-year, minimum-salary deal this summer, especially since the club also added Mohamed Bamba and Filip Petrusev to its frontcourt while retaining restricted free agent Paul Reed.
It’s possible that Harrell anticipated the team’s head coaching change could create an opportunity for more minutes. In his previous five seasons, he had put up 14.5 PPG and 5.9 RPG in 361 games (23.3 MPG), earning Sixth Man of the Year honors in 2020.
Although an ACL tear is an injury that has sidelined a handful of NBA players for a full year – or longer – in recent seasons, Harrell is hoping to return sometime after the All-Star break, according to Charania. That’s an aggressive recovery timeline — we’ll have to wait and see if he can achieve that goal. For what it’s worth, the 76ers will continue to support Harrell in his rehab and recovery plan, Charania adds (via Twitter).
Assuming Harrell goes unclaimed on waivers, which is a safe bet, the veteran forward/center will earn $2,891,467 while Philadelphia carries a dead-money cap hit of $2,019,706. The move clears a path for Petrusev and Danny Green – neither of whom has a fully guaranteed salary – to make the Sixers’ 15-man regular season roster.
RIP bozo.
Told you EOM
Such a waste of a contract. Why Morey signed him to begin with is beyond me, bc he was useless down the stretch.
If he had opted in, he could have at least been traded.
What happened to him? He used to be so good.
He was a product of the system which Doc created. Unfortunately for him and the bubble clippers, they were exposed by the nuggets.
Agree with magic, the clippers actually ran plays for him when he was on the floor. Terrible fit for the Sixers as they try to use their bigs as facilitators, and decision making has always be a weakness in his game. Whoever picks him up needs to understand that you need to chuck him the ball down low every 3-4 possessions to get any value out of having him out there.
Nah,
He aged like milk. If you watched him play last season he moved around as if he had cement shoes. I’m so glad he’s gone.
Whoever thought he was a good backup for Embiid needs to have their brain examined. That said in a different environment he could help someone. He can play defense if he has a coach show him what to do. He wasn’t bad at scoring either. He however is better suited to a half court game . He is a tiny bit short to play as a traditional center and a little bit slow to play the role in small ball.