Orlando Magic: 3 players looking over their shoulder after the NBA Draft

Orlando Magic players looking over their shoulder: 2. Gary Harris

There are similarities between the situations of Bacon and Harris, but also some key differences. Whereas Bacon may struggle to land anywhere else in the league in the Magic let him go, Harris is only 26 and has 17.5 points per game in the past while with the Denver Nuggets. His NBA career is certainly safe, it just may be that he is the odd man out here.

It is a tough turn of events for Harris, who would have seen being included in the deal that sent Aaron Gordon to the Nuggets last season as a chance to really establish himself on a rebuilding team. He started 19 of the 20 games for the team when he came over, averaging just over 10 points per game.

Harris was mostly fine during that period. Nothing to suggest he was going to take a leap of any kind, while also not taking a step back either. Had the Magic been forced to take Scottie Barnes (as most thought they would), or gone the route of Jonathan Kuminga, then Harris would have been looked at as somebody who could score and create in the backcourt. Even if that was off the bench.

Now he finds himself as the fifth man behind Anthony, Hampton, Suggs and the still injured Fultz. Entering the final year of his deal, he is also making over $20 million this coming season. That is a lot of money to leave floundering on the bench, but it feels like the organization has gone in another direction, and they are going to lean into it hard.

This makes Harris an ideal trade candidate as he is on an expiring deal. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t look like he is going to get the minutes or opportunity with the Magic before any deal takes place to show that he is worth big money next summer. Factor in that he could be traded to a team that only sees him as an expiring and will also not give him a chance, and the fresh new start that Harris looked like he was set for with the Magic looks to be over before it really started.