From 'The Shot' to 'The Steal': Gary Harris' impact on the Nuggets won't be forgotten

Gary Harris knew it was cash the second the ball left his fingertips.

He backpedaled for a few moments, admiring what in a split-second would be the first game-winner of his young career. That backpedal eventually turned into a full-on sprint to the Nuggets’ locker room where Harris was mobbed by his teammates.

“It was like a bum rush out the corner of the court into the locker room,” Michael Malone said back in 2018 around 15 minutes after Harris’ game-winning three gave the Nuggets a 127-124 win over the Thunder. “I haven’t seen our locker room like that in a while.”

That win, that shot, that game, it all seems like it happened decades — not just three years — ago. The world was so different back then. The Nuggets were so different back then. Denver was a little less than 14 months removed from its December 15 moment, when the Nuggets made the landmark decision to start Nikola Jokic at center and hitch their franchise to a still relatively unknown second-round pick out of Serbia. The Nuggets were so young, so audacious, and so brazen back then. No one knew what they had.

You could talk about the what-if’s for hours, days, or weeks. What if Nikola Jokic really could morph into a franchise centerpiece? What if Jamal Murray, a brash 20-year-old who in 2018 was in his first season as the Nuggets’ starting point guard, could develop into an All-Star level talent? What could these Nuggets accomplish if the pieces fell into place? The foundation had been laid, but who knew what would come next.

The night of ‘The Shot,’ was the start of something real and concrete in Denver. Leading up to that Northwest Division showdown against Russell Westbrook, Paul George and the Thunder, Denver had lost two-straight games. Both losses ended with the Nuggets missing potential game-winning shots at the end of regulation. But after Harris’ three-pointer snapped through the nylon, there was an indescribable release. There was a sense that these Nuggets were going somewhere.

Denver’s locker room that night was as jovial as ever. Malone interrupted Harris’ on-camera postgame interview to show him a screenshot of his game-winner and just how close Russell Westbook had come to blocking it. Around 20-feet away, Murray spoke candidly about just how dangerous Denver’s backcourt with him and Harris could be going forward. You could sense the pure excitement in his voice about what was potentially around the corner for this young, upstart group.

Three years later, the Nuggets have become exactly what many in Denver’s locker room that night thought they could: contenders. But one of the franchise pillars that helped the Nuggets rise to their current status is elsewhere. Harris was traded to the Magic along with rookie RJ Hampton and a future first-round pick in exchange for Aaron Gordon at the March 25 trade deadline. Although he’s still sidelined due to the adductor strain that has cost him much of this season, Harris will make his return to Ball Arena tonight when Denver hosts Orlando.

Gone is Harris’ tenacious on-ball defense and complimentary offensive play. Gone is his mild-mannered temperament and innate chemistry with Jokic. But staying in Denver forever will be the influence Harris had on the franchise and how he helped mold the Nuggets’ organizational culture into what it is today.

It’s why Malone and Tim Connelly, the chief operator and architect respectively of the Nuggets throughout Harris’ seven seasons in Denver, found it so difficult to say goodbye at Tampa International Airport once the trade between the Nuggets and Magic was agreed to. How do you possibly bid a sudden farewell to an organizational pillar who poured all he had into a franchise that rose from a rudderless rebuild project into a Western Conference power with him in uniform?

“I wouldn’t be sitting here right now without Gary Harris,” Connelly said. “He’s a trusted colleague, a dear friend, a fantastic basketball player, and an even better person. Where we are today is a direct result of so many of the contributions Gary made on and off the court. He’ll be missed dearly.”

It was an emotional goodbye for Connelly, Malone and the Nuggets players and staffers, especially those who had been around Harris for the last six-plus years. When Malone arrived in Denver there were questions about if Harris was an NBA player. He was coming off a dreadful rookie season where he shot 20.4% from three-point range and played sparingly under former coach Brian Shaw. But Malone was a fan of Harris when the two-guard starred at Michigan State and had an affinity for his staunch defense. Malone installed Harris as his starting shooting guard ahead of his first season at the Nuggets’ helm and never looked back.

“I thanked Gary as I was hugging him and we both shed a tear,” Malone said. “Because he had such a huge impact on us changing the culture here and going from a team that was a non-playoff team to becoming a team that went to the Western Conference Finals for only the fourth time in franchise history. We all owe Gary Harris a ton of gratitude because of everything he did here on and off the floor.”

Before ‘The Shot’ and well before ‘The Steal,’ Harris’ clutch Game 7 poke away from Donovan Mitchell that helped cement a 3-1 comeback in the first round of last year’s playoffs against the Jazz, there was ‘The Connection.’

Harris was the first Nuggets player to take full advantage of Jokic’s skill-set and tailor his game around one of the best passers in NBA history. Early on in the Jokic era, the Harris-Jokic dribble hand-off was a staple of the Nuggets’ attack.

“He was the first player that really identified that Nikola Jokic is a great player and a great passer,” Malone said. “I’m going to play off of him and thrive. Gary did that, and other guys followed suit.”

The Harris-Jokic connection led to one easy basket after another. It’s difficult to remember now because injuries have robbed us of what was a truly dynamic offensive player from 2016-18, but Harris was a terrorizing downhill attacker early on in the Jokic Ball system. He shot 42% and 39.6% from three-point range in back-to-back seasons from 2016-18 and was an underrated finisher at the rim, turning one perfectly-placed Jokic dime after another into points in the paint.

Harris and Jokic had adjacent lockers on the road for six-straight seasons but grew even closer on a trip to Jokic’s hometown of Sombor in the summer of 2018 when the two worked a Basketball Without Borders camp in Belgrade, Serbia. In Sombor, Harris saw Jokic in his natural environment around his family, friends and horses.

“He’s the guy who came to Serbia who I have a lot of memories with,” Jokic said. “He’s a guy that we kind of developed together. We kind of grew together. I’m gonna miss him. The whole team’s going to miss him.”

Harris is only 26-years-old but carries himself like a veteran. Maybe it’s because he’s already been through the equivalent of multiple NBA lifetimes. He played under Shaw, was a core member of the rebuilding Nuggets, and was an integral part of Denver’s playoff runs each of the last two seasons.

The Nuggets don’t beat the Jazz in last year’s postseason if Harris doesn’t return to Denver’s lineup in Game 6. The Nuggets also don’t get out of the first round of the playoffs in 2019 without Harris’ ball-hawking, series-changing defense on Derrick White. Denver’s come-from-behind seven-game series win over the Spurs in 2019 was among Harris’ most memorable performances in a Nuggets uniform.

Perhaps Harris’ rugged NBA career is why he was always able to stay especially steady. Harris’ stonefaced reaction to his game-winning three against the Thunder was so perfect because it was an example of one of his defining traits. After franchise-defining wins, he never got too high. After crushing losses, Harris was never rattled. He was always incredibly measured.

“I love that dude and I’ve learned so much from G that he probably doesn’t even know,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “His professionalism. His even-keelness through the highs and the lows is something I really respect about him.”

Harris taught a lot of players who came through the Nuggets’ locker room over the last seven years how to be professionals. When Murray walked into the Nuggets’ facility as a wide-eyed 19-year-old rookie in 2016, Harris took him under his wing. From Day 1, Harris showed him what was going to be expected of him at practice, in shootarounds, walk-throughs film sessions, and in team meetings.

“I learned a lot from him on and off the court,” Murray said.

In 2017, Harris was a wanted man. The then-22-year-old guard was coming off a breakout season where he averaged 14.9 points on 50.2% shooting from the field and 42% from three and was still on his rookie contract. That summer, Harris was reportedly at the center of a three-team trade between the Nuggets, Pacers and Cavs that never happened. In the proposed deal, Harris, a Fishers, Indiana native, would be traded to the Pacers, Paul George would have gone to the Cavs and Kevin Love would be routed to Denver.

The trade eventually fell apart, but the events could have damaged Harris and the Nuggets’ relationship. Here was Harris, a young, burgeoning player who was carving out a promising career for himself in Denver. He was the perfect complementary offensive piece to Jokic and also the Nuggets’ best defender. It certainly seemed like he would be a part of Denver’s young core for years to come. However, the Nuggets were willing to part with him for a more established four-time All-Star in Love.

Harris ended up shrugging off the trade chatter. To him, it was just part of the business of the NBA. Soon after those trade rumors became public, Harris joined Connelly, Malone, and team president Josh Kroenke in Atlanta where they pitched prized free agent Paul Millsap on signing with the Nuggets.

It was a memorable display of professionalism from Harris, and the Nuggets ended up inking Millsap to a franchise-defining free-agent contract. One year later, Millsap and Harris led the Nuggets to the 10th-best defense in the NBA. Denver allowed 108.1 points per 100 possessions during the 2018-19 season, which is still the best mark of the Malone tenure, and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals.

Harris’ trip to Atlanta was also symbolic of the selfless culture that he helped build in Denver. With Harris, it was never about the individual and always about the team. He was never one to take credit for a win or individual performance and always praised his teammates and coaches first. It’s an attitude that has lead the Nuggets to playoff series wins in consecutive years for the first time since the 1985-86 season.

While with the Nuggets he was the ultimate role player on the court. Off it, he helped lead a once fallen franchise’s transformation into a model organization.

“He’s the best. He’s a fantastic person. He’s got a wonderful family. He’s the longest-tenured Nugget,” Connelly said of Harris. “Where we are now from where we were when he arrived here, it’s a direct correlation to how much he’s done for this team.”