The NBA bubble era marked an incredibly complex time for big man Montrezl Harrell, who had to navigate a personal tragedy while the league tried to complete its 2019-20 season.
Before games started in the bubble, Harrell, then a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, had to leave due to a family emergency. A couple weeks later, he announced the death of his grandmother.
Harrell recently told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson of Ahn Fire Digital that he feels like he should’ve never returned to the bubble after suffering the personal loss.
“To be quite frankly honest, I should’ve never gone back to it,” Harrell said. “I left the bubble to deal with losing my grandmother. And then…even to go back to this taking about that situation it’s still f—– up because even talking about how Doc [Rivers] and them did me, bro? Even when I left that bubble?”
Harrell explained that the Clippers wouldn’t stop calling him while he was trying to deal with the tragedy.
“I lost my grandmother, you feel me?” he explained. “I lost a person that means the world to me, everything in my life. I lost her. They (the Clippers) were calling me nonstop to come back and I’m like, ‘Damn.’ I couldn’t even grieve or take care of what I needed for my family for the funeral because of how much they were calling me…”
Harrell detailed what followed and described it as inexcusable.
“They didn’t even fly me back,” he said. “They didn’t even give me a private plane. Y’all ain’t do none of that s—. I drove myself from Rocky Mountain, North Carolina all the way back to f——’ Florida by myself in a car. That s— is like a 14-hour drive, cuz! I did that s— by myself just so I wouldn’t break the [COVID-19] protocol.”
He continued.
“While I was gone, I drove myself from my home city to a city that was an hour away to take a COVID test every day for y’all,” he said. “Every day when I was at home dealing with my family losing my grandma and s— like that — I went an hour away every day to take a COVID-19 test for y’all and came up negative everyday just for y’all.”
According to Harrell, it got even worse once he returned to the bubble.
“Y’all blow up my line, all that hitting me up; and I get back to the bubble,” he said. “I drive my f—–’ self back there, and y’all ain’t reimburse me for none of that s—; y’all didn’t give me a car or anything for none of that s— — I drove myself back there because I didn’t want to depend on some private plane. That s— was out.”
He added more.
“Y’all told me if I flew commercial then I would have to be quarantined because basically I would be running a risk and that would be ‘breaking protocol,'” he said. “So I drove myself back in a car…by my f—–’ self just to get back and y’all STILL quarantined me because y’all claimed I was ‘out’ and somebody took a picture with me and I broke the rules of whole thing. But I STILL tested negative the whole entire time!”
Harrell seemingly didn’t get the support he needed from his NBA team at a time when he might’ve needed it the most, which is a tough story to hear. The height of the COVID-19 pandemic was tough for everyone, but it was especially painful for anyone who suffered a personal loss.
Harrell ended up taking the floor for the Clippers once the 2020 NBA Playoffs started in the bubble. He helped them win their first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks in six games before they lost in seven games in the second round to the Denver Nuggets.
The former second-round pick ended up taking home the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2020 after he averaged 18.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in the regular season with the Clippers.
His Clippers tenure came to an end after the 2019-20 season, and his next chapter was with the Los Angeles Lakers, who actually ended up winning the bubble championship when Harrell played for their same-city rivals.
Harrell revealed to Ahn Fire Digital that his decision to join the Lakers was influenced by a desire to give the Clippers “hell.”
The 31-year-old clearly went through a lot around that stage of his life, and hopefully, he has had time to heal. These days, he’s playing overseas.
