This Tuesday, in the middle of the NBA Finals, an info from the media TMZ came to spoil the mood. Last May, Montrezl Harrell was allegedly arrested in possession of more than one kilogram of marijuana, an amount that charges him with possible drug trafficking. Two weeks before the start of the free agency – period which this year, concerns him closely – it does not care.
Last May, Montrezl Harrell was arrested in a 2020 Honda Pilot. A Kentucky state policeman stopped him, finding that he was driving too close to the car in front of him. But as scratched above, the info does not stop – very unfortunately – there. We would have liked to be able to release a “Top 10 All-Time Players Who Were Driving Way Too Close To The Car In Front Of Them”, but the sequel is much less fun. Once at the window of the vehicle, the police officer in question reportedly smelled marijuana. From then on, Montrezl Harrell put his cards on the table and pulled a small amount of weed out of his sweatpants. But during the search of the vehicle, is found “a backpack filled with three pounds of weed in vacuum sealed bags”. For conversion, this equates to just under 1.4 kilograms. This amount directly indicts Montrezl Harrell for drug trafficking. Why is the information only coming out today when he was arrested in May? His arraignment was simply scheduled for Monday, June 13. What does the former Hornets interior risk in this case? For a first-time offender, that is to say a citizen with a clean criminal record, this offense is considered a class D crime and can result in up to five years in prison, in addition to a large fine.
NBA forward Montrezl Harrell has been charged with drug trafficking after cops say they found three pounds of weed in his car during a traffic stop in May … and is now facing time behind bars. https://t.co/j4zPsyR2gx
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 13, 2022
Does this arrest jeopardize the career of Montrezl Harrell? In the case of a conviction, very clearly. We remember that for 25 days, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walked the NBA floors with a semi-prisoner status, and an electronic bracelet. Drunk driving had sent him to the hole, from which he extricated himself – legally – every night to play basketball. But this time, Montrezl Harrell’s sentencing of up to five years in prison, it will be more complicated for Rich Paul, his agent and that of KCP, to play the mediators. Another example, that of Malik Beasley, however, allows for doubt. In September 2020, the Wolves full-back was charged with drug possession (charges dropped) and threats of gun violence. He finally got away with a modified sentence: sentenced in February 2021, he will not serve his 120 days in prison until the end of the NBA season, from June 1, 2021. But in the case of Montrezl Harrell , if the former Hornets is sent several years behind bars, his sentence will leave no room for negotiation.
One would be tempted to call it a ” hard blow “ fifteen days from the opening of the free agency, but this info goes beyond the challenge of the next few months. This is a career that, at 28, Montrezl Harrell has just seriously compromised.