Montrezl Harrell says LeBron’s injury ‘f*cked’ up Lakers’ 2020-21 season

After winning the 2020 NBA title in the Orlando, Fla. bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers were looking to repeat as champions in the 2020-21 season.

According to former Lakers big man Montrezl Harrell, only one thing got in the way: an injury to Lakers star LeBron James.

He spoke about it during a conversation with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Ahn Fire Digital.

“We’re looked at as the big brother compared to y’all,” he said while comparing the Lakers to the Los Angeles Clippers. “And I was doing that s— and the only thing that f—– it up that year is that ‘Bron got hurt. That was the year he hurt his groin. Because you gotta think. … That year? It was f—–’ — the three leading scorers were LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Montrezl Harrell! I was averaging 15-18; ‘Bron was averaging 20-plus and AD was averaging right at 20 and I was averaging 16-18 a night.”

After appearing in 41 of a possible 42 games to start the 2020-21 season, James suffered an ankle injury (which Harrell might’ve misremembered as a groin injury) that forced him to miss considerable time the rest of the way.

James was on the shelf for almost the remainder of the regular season, and although he was available for the team in the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers weren’t able to keep up and were eliminated in six games.

Davis also had to manage availability issues that season, as he missed a long stretch during the regular season and was even on the shelf at times during the Phoenix series.

Harrell, meanwhile, didn’t have a stable spot in the rotation during the playoffs, and his time with the Purple and Gold only lasted one season when all was said and done.

Ultimately, nobody will ever know how far the Lakers would’ve gone in the 2020-21 season had they been healthy. One benefit of the bubble campaign was that the long pause before the resumption of the season allowed an aging James and an injury-prone Davis to have some time off late in the season, and they didn’t have that luxury in 2021.

Harrell had some strong seasons in the NBA but is now playing overseas. The biggest accolade of his NBA career came when he earned Sixth Man of the Year honors with the Clippers in the 2019-20 campaign.

Although his Lakers tenure didn’t end in a ring, at least he got a chance to play for one of the top franchises in all of sports.