LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – AUGUST 17: Joe Harris #12 of the Brooklyn Nets (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Brooklyn Nets’ Joe Harris has left the bubble. for a non-medical personal matter.
The Brooklyn Nets played most of the 2019-20 NBA season without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, as the former struggled to stay healthy while the latter went into the season knowing he was going to take a year off to recover from an Achilles injury.
Their absence has allowed role players like Joe Harris to assume featured roles, which helped the Nets secure a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately for Brooklyn, their playoff run might be over soon, as Harris has left the team.
After the Nets fell in a close matchup against Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, Shams Charania confirmed that Harris has left the NBA’s bubble due to a non-medical personal matter. Harris will need to quarantine and test negatively for the virus before he is allowed to return to the NBA’s temporary campus at Disney World.
Joe Harris has emerged as a key shooter for the upstart Nets
Harris has excelled on Jacque Vaughn’s shorthanded Nets in the bubble, averaging 19.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while shooting an insane 55 percent from three-point range. With Irving and Durant both sidelined by injuries this season, Harris has set a new career-high with 14.5 points per game.
Harris, who will hit the open market at the end of this season, used the bubble as an opportunity to showcase his value to 29 other teams. While his price has increased due to his Orlando performance, his excellent sharpshooting from deep could coax the Nets into paying him more than everyone else to keep him in Brooklyn.
The Nets are already on the ropes against a Raptors team with title aspirations, and Harris might leave the Nets as a free agent this offseason. There is a very real chance that today’s game was the last time we’ll see Harris in Brooklyn black and white.