Gary Harris is heading into the second to last year of his contract.
Gary Harris is due to be a restricted free agent in the 2018-19 season per spotrac.com. This coming season, Harris will carry a cap hit of $2,550,055. When he becomes a restricted free agent, his cap hit will be $6,375,138.
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This poses the question of whether or not Gary deserves a contract extension. I am here to make the case why he does deserve an extension from the Denver Nuggets’ franchise. Let me ask you this question. If I were to ask you which player outside of Nikola Jokic has made the most progress in the last few years, who would jump out in your mind?
For most people, it would be Gary Harris and for good reason. Harris looked like he was actually going to be a bust in his first year in the league. In his second year, he made instant improvements which was reflected in many of his defensive statistics along with his scoring average going up into double figures. The man knows how to work on his craft and he improves significantly every year.
Second of all, the chemistry he has with Nikola Jokic is very underrated. As a matter of fact, one could make the case for them being the next up and coming duo in the NBA. Think of how many times we have seen Harris cut to the basket to get an easy bucket thanks to a perfect pass from Jokic.
Finally, it would be foolish of the Nuggets to let their best perimeter defender leave for nothing. Denver has been atrocious defending in general in the last few years and it would be a bad look to let someone like Harris go.
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For all of these reasons, Gary Harris deserves a contract extension and Denver better be careful because there are many other teams who could use his services.