On the first day of the free market opening, the Lakers signed Harrell for $19 million in two years below the market price. Interestingly, Harrell's agent is also Rich-Paul, as everyone knows that Paul is LeBron James's agent. US media "The Athletic" reporter Joe-Waden wrote an article jokingly that Paul is the Lakers' best asset.
Before the free agency market opened in 2018, Harrell fired Paul and parted ways with the super agent. One of the main reasons for Harrell's doing this is that he feels that among Paul's clients, those players with lower weights do not get the same attention as top stars.
Two years later, Harrell again hired Paul as an agent. Under Paul’s operation, Harrell left the Lakers’ rivals, the Clippers, and joined the Lakers with James and Anthony Davis. James and David All his agents are Paul.
The introduction of Harrell by the Lakers is undoubtedly an unexpected move completed by Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and Paul, which directly damaged the Clippers.
Harrell chose to leave the Clippers, one reason is the team chemistry problems, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George airborne the two superstars, the chemistry established before the Clippers disappeared. At the same time, the Clippers just chose to change coaches before. Tyronn Lue replaced Doug Rivers as the coach. Harrell knew that Lu’s tactical play was different from that of Rivers, the best of the year. The sixth man winner probably won't get enough opportunities like last season, so he is ready to leave the Clippers.
Davis has not yet renewed his contract with the Lakers. He will definitely return to the Lakers, but he is not in a hurry to sign the pen. He is still considering whether to sign a five-year $189 million maximum salary contract directly or a three-year contract. A $106 million maximum salary contract may also be a shorter contract. Davis's current entanglement has also been experienced by James before.
From the perspective of salary space, Harrell’s joining the Lakers has caused the Lakers to have trouble renewing Paul’s other client, Pope. Because of the triggering of a hard salary cap, the Lakers can give Pope a maximum of $12 million to $14 million. Annual salary. Today, four of the Lakers' 15-man roster (James, Davis, Harrell, Taron Horton-Tucker) are Paul’s customers, with a total annual salary value of $83 million. If Popper renews, it means that one-third of the Lakers' players are Paul's customers. After winning the championship last season, the Lakers completed their reinforcements in the offseason. They brought in Dennis Schroder and signed Harrell and Wesley Matthews. Matthews has an annual salary of only 3.6 million US dollars. He is 1 year older than Green. His 36.4% shooting rate is slightly lower than Green, but he is 12 million US dollars cheaper than Green and is also a better defender. Adding to the arrival of Schroder and Harrell to improve the offensive firepower of the Lakers' second team, it can be said that the Lakers now have greater hopes of defending the title.
