He is a reserve who plays the role of closer, a 6-foot-7 big man who desires matchups with 7-footers, a 32nd overall draft pick in line to earn first-round money this offseason.
Add another distinction now for Clippers forward-center Montrezl Harrell: The NBA's top reserve.
After career-high averages of 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds this season, Harrell was voted the league's sixth man of the year Friday, the first non-guard to win since the Lakers' Lamar Odom in 2011. Teammates broke the news to Harrell during the team's practice near Orlando, Fla., one day before the second game of the team's second-round postseason series against Denver.
It is the third consecutive season the award has been won by a Clipper, following previous wins by guard Lou Williams, and five victories in the last seven years, including guard Jamal Crawford.
Harrell, 26, received 58 out of a possible 100 first-place votes and 397 total points. Oklahoma City guard Dennis Schroder finished second, with 35 first-place votes and 328 total points, and Williams was third with 127 points, including seven first-place votes.
"CONGRATS TO MY BROTHER AND PARTNER IN CRIME!!!" Williams wrote on Instagram. Another win for the family."
Alongside Williams and guard Patrick Beverley, Harrell arrived in Los Angeles as part of the 2017 trade that sent Chris Paul to Houston. Clippers coach Doc Rivers has said that during Harrell's first training camp, there was discussion within the team about whether the undersized center might be waived.
Instead, he averaged 11.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in his first season before a breakout in 2019, when his pick-and-roll connection with Williams helped the Clippers lead the NBA in bench scoring and Harrell average 16.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, finishing third in sixth man voting.
This season, Harrell has recorded 12 double-doubles, scored 20 or more points off the bench 23 times and helped fuel the highest-scoring bench for a second consecutive season. He also helped the Clippers become the first team since the 1968 San Francisco Warriors with four players averaging at least 18 points each.
Harrell scored 34 points off the bench twice, including a Jan. 5 game against New York in which he and Williams became the first teammates in NBA history to each score 30 points as reserves in a regulation game.
