Tyler Harris is one of 10 newcomers for UW men. Is this last stop before NBA?

SEATTLE – Michael Harris vividly remembers the day he ceded the title of “best basketball player in the family” to his youngest son Tyler – a seminal moment in the Harris household.

“When he was in the seventh grade, he started beating me pretty convincingly,” said the elder Harris, a Cal State East Bay player who starred in the mid-1980s and was inducted in the school’s hall of fame in 2002. “That’s when I knew this kid was special and he might be really good.”

“Obviously, I didn’t play him at his best,” said the younger, soft-spoken Harris, a 6-foot-8 sophomore with the Washington men’s basketball team. “As he got older his back, legs and everything started hurting. But I still got videos of me whipping him.”

Back in the day, Michael Harris rose to acclaim as a feisty, 5-10 defensive-minded point guard who led the Pioneers to an NCAA Division II West Regional in 1985 and captured the tournament’s MVP honors.

He made sure his boys Malcolm, who is eight years older, and Tyler could dribble, pass and shoot just like their dad.

“Malcolm is my height, so it was kind of easy teaching him how to dribble, but with Tyler, I told him you have to have guard skills no matter what position you play,” Michael Harris said. “It was always a fight because when he was younger, most (coaches) saw this tall kid and wanted to put him in the post.

“But we would work on his ball handling every day. Things like dribbling with his head up, passing with both hands and being creative with the ball. The more he grew, the more it helped him.”

There’s a video that’s often shared on the Harris family group chat of a young Tyler, who was 6-feet and 13 years old, driving to the rim and flushing a 360-degree dunk for the first time.

“I read an article on Vince Carter, and he said he could 360 dunk in the seventh grade,” Michael Harris said. “So, we made it one of our goals to be able to 360. I had an older brother who was 6-2 and could do it and it became a family tradition. Problem is, the only thing I could do was a 360 jump shot.

“He starts doing those things pretty regular and then you know, he’s different. We traveled on AAU teams, went to nationals and Tyler would score like crazy. … But he stands out because you don’t see kids his size handling the ball like he does.”

Before his junior year at Salesian High in Richmond, California, Tyler Harris drew interest from USC, Utah, California and San Diego State. Then, he suffered an ankle injury that forced him to miss most of the season and the AAU season the following summer, which largely explains why the three-star recruit fell from 84th 212th in 247Sports.com’s national rankings.

As a senior, Harris transferred to Granada High in Livermore, California, and led the Matadors to their first NorCal Division I state title. Despite averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds, he had offers from UTEP, Eastern Washington and University of Portland.

“I wasn’t sure if basketball was really my career,” said Harris, a Hayward, California, native. “I thought maybe I wasn’t good enough. But you know, my dad was always there, motivating me. He’s a big part of my journey. So, I just kept working.

“Everything happens for a reason. … Portland was really good for me.”

Under the direction of Pilots coach Shantay Legans, Harris became the first player in school history to notch a double-double performance (17 points and 12 rebounds) in their freshman debut and scored in double figures in his first six games.

En route to claiming All-West Coast Conference freshman team honors, Harris suffered another ankle injury and missed 11 games while Portland finished 12-21.

“My role increased as the year went on,” said Harris, who averaged 12.1 points while shooting 46% from the field and led Portland with 7.3 rebounds. “At the beginning, my role was really just to defend the best player on the opposite team. … I scored a little bit, but I wasn’t really a big piece in the offense.”

After transferring to Washington in May, Harris withdrew from the NBA draft and began focusing on the Huskies.

“I had a couple (NBA) workouts in L.A., so I didn’t really get big feedback, but I know people want to see me play in a higher conference, and I was thinking of staying on the West Coast,” he said. “I had a lot of schools contact me from, but I really just wanted to stay kind of close to home where my parents could come and see me.

“The whole (transfer) thing was hectic. Just coaches calling every second. Honestly, it was the kind of recruitment I thought I deserved my senior year. It reminded me of my sophomore year, but crazier. … I didn’t really have a Final Four or anything like that. I really liked Kansas State, too. But then I just picked Washington. I just felt like it’s a good place for me.”

Harris was the last of 10 newcomers, including eight transfers to join a UW team that finished 17-15 last season and brought in new coach Danny Sprinkle.

“There’s been days when he’s our best defender,” Sprinkle said when asked about Harris. “Offensively, he’s really gifted and talented, especially one on one. He’s a really good catch-and-shoot guy and that’s why a lot of NBA teams like him. He has all the measurables.”

Several weeks ago, the 19-year-old Harris surprisingly appeared on the website NBAdraft.net as a No. 18 pick in the first round of the next year’s draft – the third-highest Big Ten player behind Rutgers star freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.

Hoops Hype tabs Harris as the 46th pick in the second round of the draft.

Both projections are an outlier from other mock drafts who don’t include him among the top 50 draft prospects for 2025.

Still, the preseason hype hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“Yeah, I saw it,” Harris said sheepishly. “I used to always look at (mock drafts) to see who’s getting drafted and hoping my name would magically pop up. … Actually, the first time I was on it was my freshman year at Portland. My brother actually sent it to me. So yeah, it’s kind of crazy to see that.

“I just need to stay focused. I never want to get comfortable because this can all change. I’m just staying humble and staying in the gym. Sometimes I don’t want to think that I’m even going to get drafted next year. I just want to work hard and not even stress about that. I just give it my all every day and stay in the present.”