One of the Bucks' shrewdest bits of business this offseason was trading Gary Harris and Taurean Prince to the Pistons in exchange for Caris LeVert and two future second-round picks. On Sunday night, Detroit parted ways with Harris and made the trade look even better from Milwaukee's side, since one of the assets they sent out had zero value.
The Bucks handled Harris' contract smartly
Bucks fans were all disappointed by how Harris failed to establish himself in the rotation last season. On a Bucks team needing more veteran leadership, he wasn't even able to average 3 points per game. Clearly, Harris is on the last legs of his NBA career so the Bucks didn't feel any regret about trading him this summer.
Even if he did return to his best form, he doesn't have the right skillset that the Bucks need at this point to maximize their roster. Milwaukee is chock full of shooting guards who are all better than Harris, so keeping him around made no sense. The Pistons should have had more need for shooting, but they expectedly concluded that Harris is too far past his prime to give them any minutes either.
By flipping Harris and Prince for LeVert, the Bucks helped Detroit execute a salary dump. LeVert will be making nearly $15 million next season, higher than Harris and Prince combined. But the Bucks were rewarded for taking on that money with the two second-round picks, which should only help their rebuild.
Milwaukee fans weren't sad to see Harris go
As I mentioned, Harris wasn't able to provide the Bucks with anything of note last season. Despite being a solid 3-and-D wing for years in Denver and Orlando, Harris is past the point of being a regular rotation player for any serious team. Maybe another team will gift him one final shot in the league, but Milwaukee won't be the place for him to revive his career.
By waiving him now instead of waiting longer, the Pistons did actually give Harris a chance to pursue other NBA opportunities. If he can find a team desperate enough to extend him an offer, even if that's just a 10-day exhibit contract, he can still impress them in training camp.
Harris didn't even end up getting a shot in Detroit, where the Pistons are hoping to build off a 60-win season and make a deep playoff run. Despite his strong shooting in sparse minutes for the Bucks last season, Harris clearly didn't have the same juice left on defense and that hurts him in Detroit's eyes. The Pistons are built on defense and they don't have any need for Harris now either.
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