LOS ANGELES – While life inside the NBA's Orlando bubble revolves around basketball, LA Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell continues to deal with real life situations outside of the bubble.

Harrell has been coping with the loss of his grandmother over the last couple of weeks, and made his first appearance on the basketball court in Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks. The Sixth Man of the Year candidate left the Orlando bubble July 17th, just a few days before the preseason games, and returned August 8th. He served his seven day quarantine, returned to the Clippers' walkthrough, and played in Game 1.

He did all this with his late grandmother in the front of his mind.

“[She meant] Everything,” Harrell said in his first availability since leaving the Orlando bubble. “My grandmother was the one who introduced me to the game of basketball, was my dad's mother. One of my biggest supporters, biggest fans, one of my best friends. Only way to put it, there's no other way to explain the things she done for me. She was my entire world.”

Harrell says his favorite memories were all the basketball hoops she got for him and she encouraged him to get into basketball.

“Just her introducing me to the game. My grandmother bought me so many of the toddler and different little basketball hoops that she would hang up around the house. I destroyed, I don't know, thousands of those things. She kept constantly getting them for me over and over, so… Those are the biggest memory. But every memory I have with my grandmother is a special memory because just the type of lady she is.”

Sports has been used as an outlet for many people doing through real-life situations, but that's been especially true throughout the bubble. Lou Williams said he expected to see a focused Montrezl Harrell in his return, but five months away from the game can be tough to immediately return from. Despite his early series struggles, Harrell isn't making any excuses for his play as he works back into game shape.

“I'm not really too much bothered by it. I play basketball all summer long, all year round. I never really take time off. I'm kind of used to, you know, always being around basketball.”

Harrell credits his teammates for legitimately there for him throughout his entire process of being away from the team.

“My teammates are a huge, huge uplifting factor throughout this time, throughout this whole process, man. From the first instance of when I went home, they constantly check on me every day, man, constantly kept sending messages to keep my spirits high, keep my family in their prayers, well wishes. My teammates have been great for me to lean on right now.

“It wasn't just one of those, ‘Hey, sorry for your loss.' No. Every person on the team really wrote a message to me, what they reflected on, instances of something they had to deal with in this matter in life, just words that would help me be able to get through this time. They all really sat down and typed out a legit message or called me. I had a couple guys call me, as well. They actually expressed their feelings to help me stay in the right mindset to deal with what I'm still constantly going through right now.”

Going through what Montrezl Harrell went through is an inevitable part of life, but it's never easy. The Sixth Man of the Year candidate is thankful he was able to come to come home, be around family, and be able to say goodbye.

“The fact of the matter is that I was able to be around [my kids] 24 hours and watch them grow and watch different things, watch them interact. Just being around my family, I was blessed enough to be able to go home and see my grandmother before she passed. I went home for Father's Day, we had a great time, man.”