NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 04: Joe Harris #12 of the Brooklyn Nets (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Joe Harris coming back to the Brooklyn Nets.
If they don’t end up with James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets need to spend this offseason finding role players who mesh well with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s style of play. Rather than risk letting a perfect complementary piece in Joe Harris test the open market, Brooklyn decided to outbid everyone else in order to hold on to its ace shooter.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Harris has agreed to return to the Nets on a four-year contract worth $75 million. Harris’ skills would’ve been attractive to a number of contenders, but Brooklyn decided to splurge on one of the jewels of its player development system.
Joe Harris is one of the league’s best 3-point shooters
Harris was picked 33rd overall in 2014 by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they cut bait with him after just two seasons. In four seasons with Brooklyn, former head coach Kenny Atkinson helped make Cleveland rue the day it got rid of him, as Harris averaged 12.0 points per game under Atkinson with a career-best 14.5 points per game this season.
Harris is one of the best shooters in the game, as he has shot 43 percent from deep on five attempts per game with Brooklyn. Mixed in among those seasons was a 2018-19 campaign in which he led the entire league with a 47.4 percent success rate from deep. When paired with solid defense and passing, Harris has a lot to offer this star-laden Nets team.
Durant and Irving are going to be handling the ball for most of the game and providing most of the scoring, so the Nets need to surround them with role players they can trust to hit open shots after the defense collapses on either KD or Kyrie. You can count the number of shooters in this league better than Harris on one hand, and that exemplary skill could justify a somewhat expensive price tag.
