Summary
After winning Sixth Man of the Year in '19-'20, I'm sure Harrell thought he was in for a big payday that summer. Unfortunately for Harrell, he struggled mightily in the Orlando Bubble, and ended up settling for a 2-year $19 million contract with the Lakers. It wasn't just that Harrell struggled, it was that his known deficiencies really seemed to expose themselves in the playoffs when the games mattered most. However, Harrell had a hot start to the '21-'22 season, but cooled off later in the year and didn't help ease any questions about how he can add value at the highest level.

At center, Harrell's lack of rim protection and overall defensive ability makes it difficult for his team to be solid on defense. He can be attacked in pick-and-roll, and when matchups become more important in the playoffs teams can go at him relentlessly in that regard. At 6'8", Harrell is undersized for a center, and isn't exactly Draymond Green (to be fair, pretty much nobody is, except for Draymond himself) when it comes to having the positional awareness and defensive IQ that could make up for that lack of size. He also has never had good defensive rebounding numbers.

All that being said, Harrell is a very good offensive player. He rolls hard to the rim, and has good feel for timing on the roll and knowing how to be in the right pocket to receive passes out of the pick-and-roll. He has really nice touch around the rim, and even has a floater game. He's improved his passing out of the roll, as he's able to hit the corner when the weakside drops down. He also is a good offensive rebounder, finishing in the 65th percentile or better each of the last five seasons, per Cleaning the Glass.

Harrell certainly has value, but he's not a starting level center and likely not someone you want in your closing lineup when the games matter most. As a backup center, the question becomes: how much should you pay a backup center when decent backups can be had for the minimum? Teams who have used the full MLE to sign centers in recent years have regretted it, such as Utah with Derrick Favors and Boston with Tristan Thompson
 
Cap Considerations
Harrell will be an unrestricted free agent with an $12.6 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. Since the Hornets will most likely be operating over the salary cap, they will retain Harrell's Early Bird rights until he is re-signed or signs elsewhere. The Hornets could offer Harrell a starting salary of up to $17 million using the Early Bird exception, which will be more than enough should they wish to bring him back.

If Harrell demands a starting salary of more than the full $10.3 million Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, only teams with cap space will be able to sign him (unless a sign-and-trade is completed), but it's likely that Harrell could be had for the full MLE or less, and teams could potentially target him using the Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE.