76ers waiving former Sixth Man of the Year ahead of season

The Philadelphia 76ers are parting ways with a former NBA award winner not named James Harden.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Monday that the 76ers will be waiving veteran big man Montrezl Harrell, who is recovering from a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee. Charania adds that the move is due to a “roster crunch” with the new season tipping off this week and that the 76ers will continue to support Harrell in his rehab and recovery process.

The 29-year-old Harrell, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2020, suffered the injury during an offseason workout in early August. Charania also notes that Harrell is aiming to make a return after the All-Star break (which would be a remarkable turnaround marking just around six-and-half months since his injury).

Even when healthy last season, Harrell wasn’t especially effective for the 76ers. He averaged a mere 5.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game over 57 appearances as a backup to Joel Embiid (and was more prominent for his role as an out-of-game instigator). Harrell will now be clear to sign with any team in the hopes of offering it some frontcourt depth for the latter part of the 2023-24 season.