Montrezl Harrell Revisits Ugly 2020 NBA Bubble Moment That Almost Put Him Against Paul George

Paul George nearly got into a heated fight with Montrezl Harrell© Instagram/ ygtrece

Montrezl Harrell says a defensive mix-up during the 2020 NBA bubble nearly turned into a fight with Clippers teammate Paul George. In his telling on the Kowch Potatoes podcast Friday, the trouble started while the Clippers were guarding Nuggets star Nikola Jokić in the second round. The Clippers went on to blow a 3-1 series lead in that matchup. The former NBA center says one remark from George wiped out every thought about basketball. Teammates stepped in before anything physical happened. Harrell used the same appearance to talk about a rough two months overseas, too.

What Did Montrezl Harrell Say About Nearly Fighting Paul George?

Harrell traced the blowup to a miscommunication on defense against Jokić. George tried to address him, and things went sideways fast.

“Bruh tried to start talking to me crazy and then tried to address me like, ‘Bro, who you talking to?' Once he said that, all the basketball went out the window,” Harrell said. “I didn't think about nothing else. Lou had to grab me, Pat came up and grabbed me.”

Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley were the teammates who got between them.

“I said, ‘Bro, I will beat your a**. F**k all the basketball s**t, I will knock you the f**k out bruh. I'm not even playing with you.' I just started letting him have it,” he added.

Reports from Sept. 2020 had already hinted the two did not see eye to eye. The Clippers had gone 44-20 before the bubble and then fell to Denver. George shot 38.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from deep over the last three games. Harrell joined the Lakers that offseason, while George stayed four more years before signing with Philadelphia in 2024.

Harrell Explains Why China Was A Tough Stop

Harrell spent two months with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in the CBA after signing on March 13, 2025, to replace Rob Edwards. He put up 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 13 games. Life off the court was a tougher sell.

“I went to China for two months. I'm probably hated over there, I ain't going to lie. I hated that (expletive). The spot I was in, I wasn't in like one of the popping cities. I wasn't in Shanghai. I wasn't over in Beijing.”

He said the daily scenes made it worse.

“(Expletive) in the elevator smoking cigarettes, they be looking at you like an experiment. You don't know what they be saying in the elevator,” he added.