Moe Money, Moe Problems
The Blazers’ Moe Harkless is one of the smartest NBA players in the league. In his contract he had an incentive that if he shot at least 35 percent from deep, he would get an extra $500,000. He has only received this incentive once in four seasons (2013-14). Going into the last four games of the season, Harkless was shooting 35.1 percent from three. The best part of this story is that Harkless didn’t attempt a single three pointer in the last three games he played. He essentially made money by not shooting. Harkless, in an interview before Portland’s last game of the season was asked if he would even attempt a three-pointer, to which he responded with a smile, “Would you?” Later he was asked if he would shoot a three if the game was on the line and he responded “Then I would pump fake and try to get fouled.”
I went back and looked at his April game log and Harkless only attempted seven three pointers all month. He had a game against Minnesota where he went 3-5 from three which probably put him over the 35 percent mark. This is a no brainer for me; I would have done the exact same thing. It’s like free money for yourself at that point. This didn’t cost his team anything as the Blazers were already in the playoffs. Who couldn’t use an extra $500,000 in their pockets? Well done, Moe!