Joe Harris leaves NBA bubble, dealing a blow to Nets
Brooklyn Nets' Joe Harris shoots against the Portland Trail Blazers during the second half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Credit: AP/Ashley Landis
Less than two hours after losing Game 2 of their first-round playoff series to the defending NBA champion Raptors, the Nets had to withstand a far worse blow when they issued a statement announcing that “Joe Harris has left the NBA campus in Orlando due to a non-medical personal matter. The status of his return will be updated as information becomes available.”
ESPN subsequently reported that Harris would be unlikely to return unless the Nets, who are 0-2 against the Raptors, succeed in pushing the series “to a Game 6 or Game 7 for Harris to have a chance to return, quarantine and play again based on the circumstances of his departure.”
The loss of Harris on top of all the other key personnel the Nets have lost because of illness or injury is a crushing blow. He scored 14 points and had a career-high 15 rebounds in their 104-99 Game 2 loss to the Raptors.
Harris played in six of the eight seeding games that preceded the playoffs at Disney World in Orlando, averaging 20.0 points on phenomenal 62.0 % shooting overall and 54.1 % from distance.
The Nets offered no other details for Harris’ departure beyond describing it as a “personal matter.” But after the Nets got to Orlando in early July, Harris told reporters his mother Alice stayed with him at his Brooklyn apartment during the NBA hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic because she was undergoing treatment for cancer at Cornell Weill hospital and he was worried about her getting infected with the virus.
“For me, that would definitely be the worst period,” Harris said. “Thankfully, she is doing well from a health standpoint right now, but that was my biggest concern and the worst period for me.”
In his four seasons with the Nets, Harris led the NBA in three-point percentage in 2018-19, and he won the three-point shooting contest at the 2019 All-Star Game.
He is in the final year of a two-year deal worth $16 million and will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. Harris indicated a desire to remain with the Nets, and general manager Sean Marks recently said signing Harris is the Nets’ “top priority” in the offseason.
Greg Logan has worked for Newsday since 1982 covering a wide array of sports and events, currently including the Brooklyn Nets beat.
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