Photo Credit: Godofredo Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Will Maurice Harkless Stop Shooting 3s Again, To Make An Extra $500k?

It may be that time of year again.

Last night, Portland’s Mo Harkless has reached 100 three point attempts, making him eligible to receive a $500K bonus if his regular-season three-point percentage is greater than 35%. As of now, Harkless is shooting 37.6% from three for the season.

You see, when Harkless signed his four-year, $40 million contract with the Portland Trailblazers, the contract included a contractual clause; $2 million in incentives, one, worth $500,000, being activated if Harkless shoots 35% from three point land over a full season.

Before signing the contract, Harkless was only shooting slightly over 31% from three (for his career) and only had one of his four NBA years with an above 35% three point average.

Then last season, Harkless was always around the .35 mark. After missing a three-pointer against the Utah Jazz on April 3, his 3-point percentage was exactly 35%. Another missed three would have resulted in Harkless not getting the bonus. So what did Harkless do? Well, he stopped shooting threes. Maurice Harkless didn’t attempt a single three pointer in the Portland Trailblazers’ last four games of last season. To put this into perspective, he has attempted at least one three pointer in 14 of the 15 games prior to the last four.

It’s always good to be aware of your stats, in Mo’s case, it made him half a million. We’ll see if he’ll stop shooting threes again this year, once his shooting drops to the .35 mark.

Well played Mo, well played…