ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Denver Nuggets and Gary Harris have reached an agreement on a 4-year, $84 million extension.
ESPN is also offering this detail about the contract.
The deal includes $74 million in guaranteed money, and team and individual bonus clauses worth the remaining $10 million, league sources said.
The news comes just days before the deadline for the two sides to reach an agreement. Had they not reached a deal by October 16th, Harris would’ve entered next summer as a restricted free agent. This deal ensures that the Nuggets will keep him around for the next five seasons including this one.
Harris was drafted by the Nuggets in 2014 with the 19th overall pick in the NBA draft. Over the course of three seasons Harris has gone from an end of bench player his rookie season, to a starter his second season, to one of the best players on the roster and one of the best shooting guards in the NBA this last season. He shot 42% from behind the three-point line on 4.5 attempts per game. He also shot 55.8% from inside the three-point arc, a very efficient percentage for a guard. He added some play-making to his game last season as well, setting career-highs in assists on several occasions.
Harris is also an excellent compliment to Denver’s budding young superstar, Nikola Jokic. The two have incredible chemistry on give-and-go’s and cuts to the basket. As Denver looks to build around Jokic, Harris appears to be the perfect fit.
This deal locks him up for this season and four subsequent seasons. With Denver committed to Paul MiIllsap for at least the next two seasons and Mason Plumlee for the next three, the Nuggets appear to be fairly set on allowing the current roster to grow together. Jokic is up for an extension next summer and will likely receive a max offer from the team.
The details of the $10 million worth of incentives may or may not become available but the fact that so much of the deal is reliant upon team and/or player performance makes this deal difficult to grade in a vacuum. For now, Denver has solidified their core going forward and can enter the final week and a half of preseason without any pressing business left on the docket.
