A chaotic hour for the Milwaukee Bucks will see Myles Turner arrive, Damian Lillard depart, and now former-Orlando Magic guard Gary Harris join the team via free agency:
Harris is coming off his age-30 season and his fifth with the Magic, having joined in 2021 as part of the Aaron Gordon deal with the Denver Nuggets. At 6’4”, he’s a shooting guard through-and-through and will serve as a reserve bench piece thanks to the returns of Kevin Porter Jr. and Gary Trent Jr. the other day.
Gary’s numbers aren’t particularly inspiring: just 48 appearances this past season with averages of 14.8 MPG, 3.0 points (.383/.356/.583), 1.3 rebounds, and 0.3 assists. He’s never really been reliably available throughout his career either, with his highest single-season games played being the 67 he logged for the Nuggets way back in 2017–18. As a member of the Magic, he’s played in 61, 48, 54, and 48 games the past four full seasons.
So what’s the play here? Well, his 3PAr fits the profile of a veteran bench shooter teams in Milwaukee’s competitive lifecycle utilize during a long regular season, he certainly won’t rock the boat looking for much of a playing role, and you won’t need to worry about a complete meltdown in emergency cases where a spot start is needed (due to injuries or rest for the usual starters). The one question I cannot truthfully answer is how good he is as a defender as he enters his 30s—the amount of Magic tape I’ve watched over the years is admittedly minimal. Until informed otherwise, assume he can function OK in a strong team concept without bringing a ton as an individual defender.
While we wait for his contract details to come out, it is safe to assume the deal is for close to a veteran minimum with a player option on top as a concession to get the overall value down.
As it stands after the flurry of moves this morning, the Bucks guard corps is as follows:
Gary Trent Jr.
Kevin Porter Jr.
AJ Green
Gary Harris
Pat Connaughton
The last obvious shoes we’re waiting to drop are news on Ryan Rollins’ free agency and any possible trade involving Connaughton. Milwaukee tendered a qualifying offer to Rollins, which will allow them to match any contract offer he receives from around the league, and rumors abound about Pat’s inclusion in possible trades to slash a little more payroll as the team goes.
And that doesn’t even begin to get into the reverberations of the Damian Lillard waiver. When it rains news, it pours!