Orlando Magic second round pick Tyler Harvey taken in G-League expansion draft

Former Orlando Magic second-round pick Tyler Harvey no longer is a member of the Lakeland Magic. The Milwaukee Herd grabbed him in the expansion draft.

Dive deep into the weeds of the G-League’s roster rules with me and hear this tale of draft rights, G-League rights and confusion.

Orlando Magic second-round pick Tyler Harvey was taken in the G-League expansion draft Wednesday by the Wisconsin Herd, the Milwaukee Bucks’ G-League affiliate. If Harvey returns to the G-League, the Wisconsin Herd will own his G-League rights, rather than the Lakeland Magic.

That does not mean Harvey will play for the Herd.

Harvey signed a new contract with Antibes Sharks in France this year after averaging 11.3 points per game for Manital Torino in Italy last year. The Magic brought Harvey onto their Summer League team this summer and still hold his NBA rights — even after his selection in the expansion draft to the Herd. Harvey appeared in just three games, making three of his eight shots and scoring nine total points during Summer League.

Harvey spent his first year after the Draft playing for the Magic’s D-League affiliate, the Erie Bayhawks. He averaged 11.9 points per game and shot 36.5 percent from the floor. He was the nation’s leading scorer during his senior year at Eastern Washington. But Harvey has since struggled to establish his shooting and scoring at the professional level.

The Magic have opted not to bring him onto their roster and use their draft rights on him.

And that is what made the decision to leave him open in the G-League expansion draft so interesting. After his year in Erie and two years struggling in Summer League, it is hard to see him having a future with the Magic anytime soon. If the Magic wanted to bring him back to Lakeland, they would have to negotiate obtaining his G-League rights from Wisconsin now.

But the team losing his G-League rights does not mean the Magic have lost his NBA rights. G-League rights operate separately from NBA rights.

That is, should Harvey ever return to the G-League.

Like most of the players selected in Wednesday’s expansion draft, Harvey has signed elsewhere and actually will not be playing in the G-League this year. The teams are merely reserving the G-League rights should these players ever come back.

Should they sign a two-way contract or the like in their return to the NBA system, the teams would have to acquire their G-League rights. This is usually a formality.

This is similar to when the Magic brought Seth Curry to their training camp roster and optioned him for their G-League team. Orlando had to make a trade with Curry’s previous G-League team before he could play for Erie.

The Magic retained the roster from the Bayhawks. So the new version of the Bayhawks went through the expansion draft. They selected Luke Harangody from the Lakeland Magic.  Harangody played ratiopharm Ulm in Germany last year and is not likely to return to the G-League this year.

Again, not many players selected in the expansion draft will actually play for the team that selected them.

For Harvey, though, it seems the Magic are signaling he is not part of the team’s future. That might have been clear from their decision not to bring him to camp last year after his year with the Bayhawks.

Next: Orlando Magic team building has begun

Orlando is not giving up their rights to him, but his NBA dreams are pretty far gone.