The reigning All-Star weekend three-point champion and Brooklyn Nets sniper Joe Harris is rumored to be being shopped around by the Nets.
On Tuesday night it was tweeted by Ross of Legion of Hoops that the Nets are potentially shopping Harris to get off his $7.6 million dollar contract this upcoming season. Harris becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2020.
Harris has been a sharpshooter since his arrival in Brooklyn back in 2016, shooting 47.4 percent last season from three-point range. Harris has also shot well from the field, especially the last two seasons shooting 49.1 percent and 50 percent from the field. He is the only person in NBA history to shoot at least 50 percent from the field and 47 percent from three-point range taking at least 350 attempts from three. Last season, he averaged 13.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. In his three seasons with the Nets, he’s averaged 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists.
Harris would fill a massive hole in the Oklahoma City Thunder roster bringing his incredible shooting ability to a team that has been in the bottom 10 of the league since the 2016-2017 season. Last season the Thunder only had three players that shot above 35 percent from three and four players above 45 percent from the field with three of them being Thunder big men Steven Adams, Nerlens Noel, and Jerami Grant.
An underrated element ‘Beef Jerky Joe’ would bring to the Thunder would be his free-throw shooting being a career 79.7 from the line, and in his last two seasons, he has shot 82.7 percent. If Joe was to arrive in Oklahoma City and brought his 82.7 free-throw shooting, it would make him only the fifth player on the roster to shoot above 80 percent from the line. That includes Alex Abrines (92.3), who has unfortunately left the franchise due to personal reasons after playing 31 games in the 2018/19 season and third-string point guard, Raymond Felton who shot 92.3 percent from the line after playing 33 games. The other two players were Paul George (83.9) and Dennis Schroder (81.9). As a team, the Thunder were the third worst team in the NBA in free-throw shooting with a percentage of 71.3 after shooting 71.6 percent in 2017/18 making them the second worst team in the NBA and 74.5 percent in 2016/17 making them the fifth worst team.
General Manager Sam Presti hasn’t got a war chest to work with when it comes to trading and acquiring free agents, but with the Brooklyn Nets looking to free up cap space to bring in another star to play in the Barclays Center, the Thunder could take advantage and put a lethal sniper alongside Paul George and one of the best passers in basketball in Russell Westbrook.
