JULY 6: The trade is official, the Nets and Pistons confirmed in a pair of press releases. Detroit received Harris, the Mavericks’ 2027 second-round pick, and the Bucks’ 2029 second-rounder from Brooklyn in exchange for cash ($110K).
JUNE 30: The Nets have reached an agreement on a trade that will send Joe Harris to the Pistons, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links), Brooklyn will also send two second-round picks to Detroit in the deal and will generate a traded player exception worth $19.9MM, the amount of Harris’ 2023/24 salary.
The picks being acquired by the Pistons are the Mavericks’ 2027 second-rounder and the Bucks’ 2029 second-rounder, per Charania (Twitter link).
No players are going from Detroit to Brooklyn in the trade, tweets James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. The Pistons are instead sending the Nets $110K to complete the deal, per Edwards (Twitter link). That’s the minimum amount of cash a team can include in a trade.
While the deal looks like a simple salary dump on the surface, it’s a fascinating agreement that will have a major ripple effect on both teams’ offseasons. The Pistons had frequently been cited as a potential suitor for Nets restricted free agent Cameron Johnson in the weeks leading up to free agency and there had been a belief that they could make life difficult on Brooklyn by signing the forward to a lucrative offer sheet.
By convincing the Pistons to take Harris instead, the Nets will gain more financial flexibility to re-sign Johnson and stay out of luxury tax territory. They also may take their biggest competitor for Johnson’s services out of the mix, since Harris will take up a significant chunk of Detroit’s cap room and will reduce the need for the Pistons to go out and acquire another sharpshooter.
It’s not a bad arrangement from the Pistons’ perspective either. Rather than potentially overpaying Johnson on a four-year, nine-figure offer sheet and hoping the Nets won’t match it, they’ll get one of the NBA’s best outside shooters on a short-term contract, retaining long-term flexibility and picking up a pair of future second-rounders in the process.
[UPDATE: Nets, Cameron Johnson agree to four-year deal]
Injuries limited Harris to just 14 games in 2021/22, and he played a reduced role when he returned to action this past season, averaging just 20.6 minutes per game, his lowest mark since ’15/16. However, he remains as effective as ever from beyond the arc, knocking down 42.6% of his three-point attempts in 74 games last season. He has now hit at least 42.4% of his threes in five straight seasons, leading the NBA in three-point percentage twice during that time.
RFA owners (hopeful retainers) this offseason (LAL/Brk) have to be happy with how much cap is being taken off the table currently (Orl just took some of table as well)
A sign of the weak free agency
SAS looms large tho, man what a great job they do keeping their plans close to the vest (havent heard a peep) , they are the pests, hope they LOVE Cam J
Joe Harris is a top 10 shooter in the NBA. Smart move by the Detroit Pistons. I know Monty Williams wanted his boy Cam Johnson but whenever you get a restricted free agent you always have to overpay and it’s no need when you drafted Ausar Thompson. Who will be extremely nice.
Oh Cam is going nowhere, but I say pests as SAS can make them pay more than they would
But bigger (and more personal as I think your a LAL fan as well) is there ability to F w Reaves/Rui. There the team I fear, wish ida heard some FVV interest or any interest really from them on some larger scale free agents
I disagree on RFA being overpays, they are usually the last team friendly deals you’ll ever find unless you get a top 10 player in which case they are worth over the max
Why Detroit, why?!
Harris is one of the ten best 3PT shooters of our generation, but $20M for a guy who only shoots just to get two second round picks?
Harris’s contract, in itself, is an asset. Detroit’s not going anywhere this year but they hope Harris stays healthy and is attractive enough to be traded mid season to a contender or acquired as an expiring contract and thus need more draft capital.
Huh? The Pistons are getting 2 draft picks. They are probably not going to make the playoffs next season. It is not going to crush them.
My Nets trade Grade
A
My Pistons trade grade D- The draft picks keep it from being an E.
Had to have been a better way for Detroit to spend $20M in cap space than by picking up Joe Harris & a couple of far future 2nds. Dillon Brooks is an obv 1
Brooks is a negative vorp player lol.
Dillon Brooks would’ve fit with the Bad Boys I and Bad Boys II era of Pistons basketball. He doesn’t fit with this team. Although maybe his attitude is exactly what this team needs.
Thank goodness they did this. Cam is staying now!
Think he was going to stay all along regardless , just hold your breath SAS doesn’t have a fond interest to keep future year salaries in check
Any word on what’s going the other way? TPE’s not sufficient. It has to be a stash, a pick (i.e., a second rounder protected from 1-55), or cash ($110K).
I like it for both teams. Makes sense.
how come Detroit didn’t have to send back equivalent salary?
They had salary cap space
Another Cap Space 8 team downsizes its stash of cap space on the threshold of the FA period opening. Its rational, particularly to the extent it reflects DET’s view of this FA class. Which I assume isn’t positive.
The Other 22 pick up some buying capacity, but it’s unclear how much yet. An 18 mm TPE in BKN’s hands (with SNT restrictions) might not impact the FA market much, but this deal won’t be finalized for a bit and can still be rolled into a matching contract trade.
By my accounts over 25% of the cap has been taken off before FA has even began
A function of the teams that had the space. They’re not used to spending $$ on FAs, and know that FAs don’t much like them except at a premium. Maybe they figure the FA class can’t be worse next year, and they can’t be less desirable, so roll over the space. They won’t get anyone better than Harris on a 1 year, so why not pick up a couple of 2nds as they roll over the space. They did the same thing with Burks and Noel last year.
Anyway, the spending capacity is now with BKN, a team very comfortable with spending, so that’s good news for the FAs who are worth more than the MLE. I’ll be surprised if this is just BKN cutting some costs relative to Cam’s eventual contract.
Agree Brklyn will do more with the money than just Cam, I thought he was staying regardless (even a 4/90 would likely be matched without 2nd thought)
Just think that comes in the form of the trade exception which shouldn’t impact the market today
I don’t think they will make any bold moves in free agency, trade likely when the dust settles. Can put a squeeze on a team in need of some cap relief w that trade exception , I like the idea of Bb from ATL but he’s probably not for sale, something liken to that tho
Joe Harris was once my favorite Net. Its sad to see him go. With that being said, this was a great trade on Marks part. Harris has looked absolutly finished since the knee injury he suffered in 2021. He can’t defend anyone and his overall shooting has gotten worse. Hes not worth 20 million a year. I wish Joe goodluck on his new team
The pistons are not done by any means. They may trade bogey soon and also have bagley , burks and Hayes as trade pieces. They could free up fifty mil if they wanted to but this gives them another nice expiring contract to hit free agency next year
From reports I heard the Pistons are shopping Bogdanovic for a package of a first round pick and a couple seconds. So perhaps the reduced cap space is temporary.. could end up being Bogdanovic for Harris, a first round pick and 4 seconds if another team is roped in the trade.
Exactly .. to suggest it takes them out of free agency is not knowing the roster and how much they still have to do.
Pistons aren’t done yet this is just the beginning if we have to we can trade Joe now or later in the year what we need to do is get more shooting and deepen our bench but saying that trade bogdan for future picks and bench help and trade Killian for a backup guard and trade Bagley for draft picks and depth troy should do that
Troy calls up the Nets to let them know he’s coming after Cam. He hangs the phone up, tail tucked directly between legs, forced to take out Brooklyn garbage so Brooklyn can go shopping and spend more money.
Detroit did this last yr so the Knicks could sign Brunson go to the playoffs and we win 17 games.
The NBA is a joke. All the teams over the cap sign all the free agents. There’s no punishment for over spending when guys like Troy run around bailing everyone out
I mean if Cam wants to stay in Brooklyn there isn’t much Troy can do
Detroit should of traded Cade, Bojan and Ivey for Henderson , Jabari Walker and Little. Play Duren at PF. Get him to start shooting.
This is the yr of “FA$alaryDump” …..
Kyrie and Harden should have been dumped.
Sixers should sign Russ ……
Why didn’t the Knicks go after Harris. Knicks desperately need shooters.
You guys dont even play Fournier