I THINK I HAVE CHANGED THE CULTURE SOME. IT’S THE WAY I APPROACH THE GAME AND COME IN AND PLAY. I NEVER TAKE PLAYS OFF. I COME IN OFF THE BENCH WITH A LOT OF ENERGY. I JUST COME IN AND WORK MY TAIL OFF AND LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FLOOR. THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE RESPECT THE MOST ABOUT ME.” Seven years ago, shoes weren’t the biggest concern for Harrell. He just wanted to make the NBA, coming out of the University of Louisville, where he won an NCAA championship. Harrell, who is in his seventh season, had a bit of an uphill battle to make it. The Houston Rockets drafted him in the second round in 2015 and he spent time in the NBA’s development league before settling in with Houston.
TOWNE INTERVIEW
Montrezl Harrell Star Center for the Washington Wizards
By Tom Worgo Photography courtesy Washington Wizards
W
ashington Wizards center Montrezl Harrell has so many tennis shoes that if he wore a different pair every day, it would take eight to 14 years to wear them all. Harrell estimates he has an astounding 3,000 to 5,000 pairs. Some of those were made from his own custom designs. He uses as many as 200 during a season and was thrilled when the NBA changed its rules for the 2018–19 season, allowing players to wear any color shoes. 18
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Two years later, the 6-foot-7, 240-pound Harrell’s career started to take off when he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, where he played for three seasons. His highlight with the Clippers came in 2020 when the NBA named him its Sixth Man of the Year, an award given since to the league’s best performing player for his team coming off the bench as a substitute. He spent the following season with the Lakers before being traded to Washington this past summer in a four-player blockbuster deal that included future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook. Harrell has made $35.5 million in his career, including 9.7 million this season. We talked to Harrell about his vast shoe collection, the way
he plays the game, Wizards’ rookie coach Wes Unseld, Jr., and winning a NCAA national championship. Can you talk about your shoe collection and when it started? I started it during my freshman year of college. I love it, and I am blessed to be in this game and be able to call it a job. It’s a luxury. It’s a real passion of mine. I have fun with it, and it has brought me a lot of joy. It’s not something I do for the fame or outside limelight. I am in the process of opening my own sneaker store in North Carolina. Why do you collect all those shoes? The reason I collect them is that everything goes into the shoes. Your craft, jump shot, and footwork. I like the challenge of going to find them, authenticate them, making sure they are real, and the story behind the shoes. I like the people I meet throughout the process of finding the shoes. That’s all the things I love about it. Do you collect the shoes of famous players? As far as signatures on shoes, I have a pair of Dwyane Wade shoes from his last year in the league that he did sign for me. It’s one of my biggest memorabilia pieces. I have
