Maurice Harkless finding wins much harder to come by in new home with Knicks
Maurice Harkless of the New York Knicks reaches for a loose ball during the second half against Moritz Wagner of the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 12, 2020. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Maurice Harkless spent the first half Thursday night in Philadelphia having about as much impact on the game as a fan perched in the stands. He didn’t have a point, a rebound or an assist, and the Knicks fell behind by as many as 20 points.
Maybe in a nod to what he has learned — and what he has available to teach the younger players who still might be the future of the team — he shrugged off the early struggles and hit five three-point field goals in the third quarter before finishing with 17 points, four rebounds and two assists in yet another loss for the Knicks.
If that provided some lesson about staying with your game, the hard lesson for Harkless was that the wins that came steadily in his time with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Clippers are much harder to come by now.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Harkless said. “We’ve got to play the right way. We’ve got to build good habits. It’s a process. It’s not going to happen overnight. But we have some good pieces here, so we’ve just got to build on that.”
Harkless spent his first three NBA seasons in Orlando with results very much like what he is enduring now with the Knicks, whose sixth straight loss dropped them to 17-42 (entering Saturday's play, they are tied with the Cavaliers for the second-worst record in the NBA). But he spent four years in Portland without a losing season and then was a starter for much of this season with the Clippers, dreaming championship dreams, before being dealt to the Knicks earlier this month.
“I relate to a lot of these guys,” Harkless said. “These guys are willing to listen. It hasn’t been hard. These guys are easy to talk to. I just try to continue to make an impact on these guys as well . . . Whatever situation I’m in, I just put my all into it. So I’ve just got to make the most of it and try to make something out of this.”
“We’ve seen him catch fire,” said Elfrid Payton, one of the players whom the Knicks will have to make a decision about this summer. “Sometimes guys on other teams don’t get to showcase some of their many talents and they go to another team and they get that chance. I’m excited for Moe. It takes a little time once you’re traded to try to get into a groove with a new team, but I’m excited for what he’s been doing and how he’s been helping us.”
But the reality is that Harkless, who grew up in Queens and played his college ball at St. John’s, came home but could leave quickly. He is a free agent at season’s end, and his expiring contract played no small part in the Knicks' decision to bring him back in the trade that sent Marcus Morris to the Clippers.
While the Knicks have new management coming — Leon Rose is expected to officially take over Sunday as team president — the plan has been to maintain salary-cap flexibility. Six of the free agents signed over the summer have only minimal guarantees for next season.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
