The "invaluable" trait Devin Harris brings to the Nuggets

HOUSTON — The three-team trade that sent Emmanuel Mudiay to the New York Knicks, Devin Harris to the Denver Nuggets and Doug McDermott to the Dallas Mavericks became official Thursday evening, but Harris won’t be with the team when Denver takes on the Rockets on Friday in Houston.

Harris will meet the Nuggets in Phoenix on Saturday — the second night of their weekend back-to-back — and Denver was still unsure as of Friday morning if he’ll be in uniform. Physicals for all three players involved in the deal still have to be processed.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone can’t wait for Harris to arrive. With 28 regular-season games and the Western Conference playoff picture packed tighter than ever, every game down the stretch of Denver’s season will feel like a playoff game as teams jostle for positioning.

Denver (29-25) is currently the seventh seed in the Western Conference but seeds four through eight are separated by just four games.

Harris brings 64 career playoff games to the Nuggets.

“Until you’re actually (in the playoffs) in a series, you can’t simulate that kind of pressure and that kind of experience,” Malone said before his team held shootaround Friday morning at the Toyota Center. “I think Devin, the fact that he’s been there, played in the NBA Finals and been in an integral part of playoff teams, he’s going to come in and be able to help us in these close games that start to take on more and more meaning and the pressure starts to ramp up. You have a guy now that’s been through it and knows what it takes and that’s always invaluable for a young team like us.”

Richard Jefferson has 140 playoff games under his belt but is only averaging 8.6 minutes per game this season. Paul Millsap has played in 87 playoff games, but has been sidelined since late-November after left wrist surgery and isn’t expected to return until March.

Outside of those two veterans, the rest of the Nuggets’ roster has played in a combined 87 playoff games.

Harris averaged 18.3 minutes across 44 games for Dallas this season, and it’s easy to see him logging more minutes with Denver over the rest of the regular season. Harris can play either backcourt position, will play with and without starting point guard Jamal Murray and opposing players and coaches constantly rave about the speed the 34-year-old plays with.

“He’s one of the quickest players that I’ve ever been around,” Malone said. “That’s the other thing that I like that Devin Harris adds. We always talk about pace, he brings a quickness and a pace that we haven’t really had in that position. He’s a blur, he can get to anywhere he wants on the court.”

“He’ll fit in perfectly,” Darrell Arthur added. “He’s a guy that plays a fast-paced game up and down, kind of like what we play now. Still very crafty. He’s a weapon.”

Malone has coached Harris before. Denver’s coach was on the All-Star game coaching staff when he was an assistant for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009. Harris earned his one and only All-Star selection that season.

From those brief interactions and the text messages that flooded Malone’s inbox over the past 24 hours from coaches who have worked with Harris, he’s convinced Denver got someone who’s not only going to help the Nuggets on the court but also off it.

“You get a guy in Devin Harris who has the experience, the character and who fits into the culture that we’re trying to create,” Malone said.