NEW YORK — The Joe Harris era in Brooklyn is coming to an end.
The Nets are dumping the sharpshooter’s $20 million salary in a deal with the Detroit Pistons just hours ahead of the NBA’s Friday 6 p.m. free agency kickoff. To sweeten the deal, the Nets added a 2027 second-round pick via Dallas and a 2029 second-rounder from Milwaukee.
The Nets did not receive a player back in the deal but they will receive a $19.9 million trade exception that they can use to acquire a player without sending any outgoing salary.
Instead, the front office made a business decision, opting to shed the final year of the four-year, $75 million contract Harris signed in 2020.
The deal marks the end of a tenure for a player the organization had labeled a posterchild of its player development program. Harris evolved from a spot-up shooter into a more well-rounded basketball player during his seven-year tenure in Brooklyn.
He averaged 11.6 points and shot the three at a 44% clip during his Nets career.
Harris reigned supreme as one of the NBA’s most efficient three-point shooters during his time in Brooklyn, leading the league in three-point field goal percentage both in 2019 and 2021.
He couldn’t find the same level of efficiency in the playoffs, a shortcoming that defined the career of a longtime starter in Brooklyn.
Harris regressed to a 35% 3-point shooter in his four playoff series. He shot just 8% from downtown in Brooklyn’s four-game sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers last season. He also shot 19% against the Sixers in the first round in 2021.
Harris’ Nets career was also derailed by an ankle injury in 2021 that would eventually require a second surgery that ended his 2021-22 season a month-and-a-half into the year.
He now joins a rebuilding Pistons team attempting to put pieces around franchise cornerstone Cade Cunningham. Detroit finished the 2022-23 NBA season with a league-worst 17-65 record. The Pistons selected Overtime Elite’s Ausar Thompson with the No. 5-overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft.
As for the Nets, the Harris deal gives the team additional wiggle room to operate in free agency. Brooklyn must retain restricted free agent Cam Johnson, who is expected to receive an offer sheet in the four-year, $100 million ballpark. The Nets reserve first right of refusal and can exceed the salary cap to retain Johnson, but shedding Harris’ salary saves the team capital in luxury tax payments.
Harris will assuredly receive a heartfelt tribute when he returns to Brooklyn as an opponent and is a candidate for a buyout or a subsequent trade to a contender for draft capital.
Harris defeated Golden State’s Stephen Curry to win the 2019 NBA Three-Point Contest. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2024.
