Guard depth arrives via free agency
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:
FROM SHAMS:
Bucks GM Jon Horst and CAA Co-Head of Basketball Austin Brown finalized terms on Harris’ deal on Tuesday morning.
— Shams Charania Tweets (& Other NBA News) (@shamsbot.bsky.social) 2025-07-01T16:01:23.275Z
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!