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Haynes: Harry Giles III to make comeback bid with Nets

Harry Giles III, once a top big man prospect whose body has betrayed his career, is looking to make a comeback with Brooklyn.

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Harry Giles III, the highly skilled but often injured 6’11” big, is signing with the Brooklyn Nets. Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT was first with the news...

Followed within a minute by Mike Scotto of Hoopshype...

NetsDaily can confirm the reports. The deal is officially a standard but non-guaranteed deal. The non-guaranteed nature of the deal will permit the Nets to cut him if things don’t work out or figure out a way to sign him if they do. He and two other big man signings of Trendon Watford and Darius Bazley appear to have identical deals.

Giles later reposted Haynes original tweet with three fingers-crossed emojis...

Hazan told SNY’s Ian Begley and Garrett Stepien that “Giles chose Brooklyn over two other suitors that had strong interest in the big man. Hazan also told SNY that “the Nets showed interest in Giles throughout the offseason. They were among a large group of teams that Giles III worked out in front of.”

The Nets worked out Giles August 5, one of a month-long set of Giles auditions that attracted scouts from more than a dozen NBA teams. Giles who hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2020-21 seasons. In fact, he hasn’t stepped on an NBA or G League court since January of 2022 when he suffered a season-ending injury, not defined, in the G League with the Agua Caliente Clippers. He’s been rehabbing ever since.

Giles has had three major knee surgeries going back to his high school years, by our count. He had ACL surgery on his left knee in 2013 and on his right in 2015 while still in high school. He had another arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in 2016 while at Duke.

Three days before the Nets scouted him in early August, Giles played in the Miami Pro League — where the Nets Dennis Smith Jr. and Royce O’Neale have played this summer. He put up 42 points ... and posted video...

Before his career was betrayed by his body, Giles, 6’11” with a chiseled frame and 7’3” wingspan, was seen as a top big man prospect. He could shoot, rebound, pass and block. In the 2017 Draft, the same one that featured his high school teammate and friend, Jayson Tatum, and Bam Adebayo, he was taken at No. 20, two spots ahead of Jarrett Allen. The Nets were interested back then despite his bad fortune. The interest was mutual. From an Anthony Puccio story at the 2017 Draft Lottery;

We caught up with Harry Giles of Duke at the NBA Lottery who said he was “intrigued” by the remodel of the Nets after Sean Marks and Kenny Atkinson took over. He also mentioned how it’s important to have a reputable doctor such as Riley J. Williams (The Nets medical director then and now.)

Since then, Giles has played only 142 NBA games and averaged 5.9 points and 3.8 rebounds.

Giles should find plenty of opportunity in Brooklyn as the team seeks to buttress its front court. They’ve already signed the two other bigs, Bazley and Watford, to non-guaranteed deals, and have Day’Ron Sharpe still on a guaranteed rookie scale deal Brooklyn also drafted Noah Clowney in June and will soon sign Patrick Gardner to an Exhibit 10 camp invite. All are young, with Giles at 25, the oldest.

Giles is close to newly signed Nets point guard Dennis Smith Jr. and Jayson Tatum, a high school teammate, has been his advocate, tweeting this out in July ...of last year.

Tatum in fact worked with Giles agent, Daniel Hazan, this summer to get a rule inserted in the new CBA that would permit an NBA team to sign Giles to a two-way contract despite his four years of service. Players with more than three years are ineligible for two-way deals. As Haynes wrote back in June.

A new provision on two-way contracts in the new CBA will informally be dubbed the “Harry Giles III rule,” which will allow NBA players who sit out an entire season not to have that year count toward the three-year maximum service for two-way eligibility.

In the previous CBA, a player with less than four years of service was eligible to be signed on a two-way contract. Initially, those same parameters were set to go unchanged in the new CBA.

Tatum told Haynes he had called the league himself to lobby for the change.

“I reached out in support,” Tatum told B/R. “Just trying help my guy. He deserves this shot.”

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