Joe Harris is one of the best shooters in the NBA when he is healthy, and he is clearly well suited for the 3 and D role. In the 14 games that he played during the 2021-22 season, Joe Harris averaged 11.3 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 1.0 APG while shooting a blistering 46.6% from beyond the arc.
There have been some suggestions that the Brooklyn Nets could end up trading Joe Harris, most notably in a trade that would send Kyrie Irving to the Los Angeles Lakers. He would definitely benefit the Los Angeles Lakers, as putting an elite shooter such as Joe Harris next to superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis is a recipe for success.
“Is there a scenario in which the Lakers end up trading both firsts, Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn, and leave the deal with Seth Curry, Joe Harris, and Kyrie Irving? I could see that happening. The reason they would like Seth Curry before Joe Harris is that you’ve got a shorter contract and less injury concerns. With Joe Harris you’ve got the ankle surgery. The Lakers have been hesitant about taking on large contracts, I don’t know why. Maybe management thinks a LeBron James and Anthony Davis core isn’t good enough anymore…”
Recently though, NBA insider Brian Lewis has suggested that the Brooklyn Nets “really like” Joe Harris and “don’t want to trade him”. While Lewis did not rule out the possibility of Joe Harris getting traded for salary matching purposes, he made it clear that Joe Harris is “not a salary dump”.
“They really like Joe Harris… Numbers have to add up, so if you are trading him and you have to make numbers add up, then yes… But they don’t want to trade him. They are not shopping him and he is not a salary dump. I’m told that they want to keep him. It’s just a matter of, ‘Can they keep him in whatever deal might be upcoming for Kyrie?’”
Hopefully, we see Joe Harris stay on the Brooklyn Nets. The franchise has done a great job of helping him develop, and he’s become a fan favorite over the course of the last few years.
With that being said, an NBA front office’s job is to help the franchise get better. If there’s a trade that makes the Nets better at the expense of trading Joe Harris, then they should absolutely follow through with it. However, it is clear that the Brooklyn Nets have not been actively trying to move him.
