The Nets have expressed a “surprising willingness” to discuss veteran sharpshooter Joe Harris in trade talks this season, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Fischer acknowledges that it would take a significant offer to pry Harris away from Brooklyn, but suggests the team seems open to the possibility.
“It’s crazy to me; he’s their only real three-and-D player,” one assistant general manager told Fischer. “But his name keeps popping up.”
Harris, who has missed the last month due to a left ankle injury, is under contract for two more years beyond 2021/22. He’ll earn fully guaranteed salaries of $18.64MM in ’22/23 and $19.93MM in ’23/24. That makes him a pricey role player for one of the NBA’s top taxpaying teams, but Harris’ outside shooting is worth the cost — he has led the league in three-point percentage in two of the past three seasons and is leading the way again in 2021/22 with a 46.6% mark.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Brooklyn has remained open to discussing trade involving Kyrie Irving, but haven’t gained real traction on any scenarios involving the star point guard, sources tell Fischer.
- Rival executives believe the Nets could make Nicolas Claxton available prior to the trade deadline, according to Fischer, who says the team “quietly gauged” the center’s value around the 2021 draft. Claxton has been productive on a team-friendly deal for Brooklyn, but will get more expensive in 2022, when he reaches restricted free agency.
- There’s a sense among rival execs that the Nets will use one of their traded player exceptions to acquire a veteran before the trade deadline, with Claxton a candidate to be an outgoing piece in such a deal, writes Fischer. Brooklyn created TPEs in their Spencer Dinwiddie sign-and-trade ($11.5MM) and their DeAndre Jordan salary dump ($6.3MM).
You can’t send a player out in a trade involving a TPE. Them’s the rules.
You can’t combine a player’s salary with a TPE’s value in order to acquire a player with a salary that exceeds the TPE’s value. But there’s no rule against sending out a player in a trade involving a TPE. It happens all the time.
For Harris, lingering injury + playoff choking = expendability.
Harris isn’t their only 3 and D player. Durant plays good defense and can knock down 3s with with the best of them.
#LetKyriePlay