It took just 12 minutes.
When Gary Harris was signed, fans were hopeful that the potential he flashed in his earlier years was still there. That even after all the injuries he'd gone through in his relatively uneventful career thus far, he still had some left in the tank for one, maybe two more solid runs to the Eastern Conference playoffs. His signing filled a spot of immediate need, and all eyes were on him to show us something.
Reality is often not so kind. In his first game with the Milwaukee Bucks, Harris looked every bit like a player whose best days are way behind him. And in just one preseason showing, the Bucks faithful's collective nightmare came true: that they might have just signed another washed-up veteran.
The stat line tells a brutal story: two rebounds, two assists in 12 minutes. He went 0-for-4 from the field. He turned over the ball four times, and he finished a net -4 for the game in a 103-93 win over Miami. When you're getting cooked in a preseason victory, that's not a great sign.
Bucks fans' Gary Harris fears just came true against the Miami Heat
Harris was supposed to bring that veteran 3-and-D presence Milwaukee desperately needs on the wing.
It's not just the numbers he put up (or didn't put up) as much as it's how he put them up. In his 12 minutes of play, Harris looked like he was going through the motions. He was at his spots when we had to be, but he never quite created any advantages or even stopped his man convincingly enough. When the ball was in his hands, he could neither hit open shots nor even make simple reads. Worse, he got targeted defensively multiple times by a Heat team that wasn't even trying that hard.
The Bucks eventually beat the Heat 103-93 thanks to the sudden heroics of Pete Nance and company, but Harris looked sluggish and out of rhythm. For a team that desperately needs reliable two-way wings, that’s a bad early sign.
Obviously, one preseason game isn't enough to write anyone off completely, but it's definitely enough to confirm what a lot of people already suspected: Gary Harris in 2025 is not the same player who was a legitimate two-way threat in Denver all those years ago. He did look better in the win over Detroit, posting five points on 2-of-4 shooting, but he was still shaky.
Just to get it out of the way: even this writer was a believer in the signing when it first happened. Gary Harris has a history of being a good 3-and-D player, and he has a lot to prove. How could it not work out?
But this is where we are today. The Milwaukee Bucks needed Harris to give us something to bolster our already-thin wing position. Based on the opening night of the preseason, they might already be scrambling for a contingency.
Fortunately for them, they have other options to look to before the season actually starts.