Montrezl Harrell Told Paul George 'I Will Knock You the F--k Out' in Clippers Game

Montrezl Harrell played the best basketball of his career during his three-year stint with the Los Angeles Clippers, but he can pinpoint the moment the team no longer wanted him.

In an article for The Players' Tribune, Harrell wrote he threatened to knock out teammate Paul George in a huddle after a miscommunication on a switch during the Clippers' second-round loss to the Denver Nuggets in the 2020 NBA playoffs.

Harrell said the death of his grandmother was the catalyst for his behavior:

"OK, time-out — I'm simple. Real motherf--ker. That's why a lot of people, I think, don't like me. At the end of the day, everybody's out here in between these lines because we're trying to, one, feed our family, but, two do some s--t for the team, for the organization, for the city. Real talk. I came back to the Bubble for this, after having to bury my grandma in the ground, bro. The person who raised me, the reason I play this game. I was so f--ked up mentally, more than I even knew. Alright, with that in mind…. I told P right then and there, in front of coaches and everybody, "I will knock you the f--k out, bro. You're trippin'. You was wrong, bro. You're WRONG." I can look back on that now and realize I went too far in the heat of the moment. I realize this is a business and you can't talk like that to the star player. But when you're going through grief, you only see what's right in front of you. And it was just all bad from there. We lost in the second round to Denver, in seven games. The next summer, the Clippers sent me a text message saying something like, "Thank you for everything you did for us … but, we're going to go in a different direction."

Despite his consistent success as a reserve for the Clippers, Harrell wound up with no contract offer and wound up bouncing around the league. He signed a two-year, $19 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers before being traded to the Washington Wizards in the summer of 2021 and then the Charlotte Hornets at the 2021-22 trade deadline. The Hornets distanced themselves from Harrell after he was caught with marijuana in his car during a traffic stop.

The Philadelphia 76ers signed in the summer of 2022, but he saw the most limited role since his rookie season. He averaged 5.6 points and 2.8 rebounds while playing just 11.9 minutes per game. The Sixers released Harrell before the start of the 2023-24 season after he suffered a torn ACL in training camp.

It would be easy to look at that moment between George and Harrell as a turning point in the latter's career. Harrell never found a role he excelled in as much after leaving the Clippers, and it's possible his NBA career is over as he attempts to return from injury.

"It was like boom, boom, boom. First I lost my grandmother and had to grieve in the Bubble. Then I get a setback in Charlotte and have to miss out for something else away from the game. Then I finally get with people who I thought understood the person I was, the player I was, and it doesn't pan out," Harrell wrote. "Then, in an instant, it's all taken away. All of a sudden, I'm dealing with these emotions I can't really place. And I don't really know how to deal because the person who I turned to the most was gone."

Harrell says he hopes to return to the NBA this season and wants to write the final chapter of his career "leaving it all on the floor."