Manny Harris Leads Legends Over Warriors; Is NBA On His Horizon?

On a night when Texas Legends' leading scorer Tu Holloway was off, Manny Harris stepped up in a big way. The shooting guard scored the Legends' first basket and many more en route to a 108-88 win over the Santa Cruz Warriors in Frisco. In total, Harris dropped 27 points on 11 of 17 shooting while dishing out four assists and grabbing five rebounds.

Harris, who shot 5 of 8 from three-point range, has played in nine of the Legends' twenty games this season. He joined Texas in mid-December after being traded from the LA D-Fenders in exchange for the returning player rights to Damion James.  Harris was off to a hot start in LA, averaging 23.4 points per game, but hasn't matched that productivity in Texas. He's started five of the nine games he's appeared in, averaging 15.3 points per game.

Originally undrafted out of Michigan in 2010, Harris has had multiple stints in the NBA, D-League, and overseas. On Friday night, he showed the skills that have made him a viable NBA player during his career. Always a scorer (he once poured in 56 points in one D-League game) Harris will need more than that to see action with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legend's NBA affiliate has solid contributors off the bench like J.J. Barea and Devin Harris and is a respectable 11th in the league in bench points, averaging 36 points per game.

Even if the Mavericks pass on giving Harris a shot, his ability to create and score is sure to garner attention from NBA scouts, just check out what he did to Lebron in 2010. The question for Harris isn't whether or not he has a place playing professional basketball; the question is whether or not he has a place playing in the NBA.