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Brooklyn Nets rumors: Indiana Pacers may target Joe Harris

By Phil Watson

BROOKLYN, NY - FEBRUARY 14: Joe Harris #12 of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket against Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers during the game between the two teams on February 14, 2018 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Matteo Marchi/NBAE via Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, NY - FEBRUARY 14: Joe Harris #12 of the Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket against Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers during the game between the two teams on February 14, 2018 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Matteo Marchi/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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With the new NBA league year mere hours from opening, the Brooklyn Nets rumors kicked off with a report the Indiana Pacers may target Joe Harris.

The new NBA league year opens at midnight Eastern on Sunday and the first Brooklyn Nets rumors of the free agency period arrived in the form of a #Wojbomb from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

According to Wojnarowski, the Indiana Pacers may have their eye on Brooklyn Nets unrestricted free agent guard Joe Harris, as well as Doug McDermott, who will become an unrestricted free agent after the Dallas Mavericks withdrew their qualifying offer to the stretch combo forward.

Harris, the 26-year-old wing, resurrected his flagging NBA career after signing with the Brooklyn Nets in July 2016.

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Harris was a second-round pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of Virginia in the 2014 NBA Draft and spent most of his season-plus with the Cavs shuttling to the G-League’s Canton Charge.

In January 2016, Harris — out with a broken foot at the time — was traded to the Orlando Magic along with a protected 2017 second-round pick that didn’t convey in exchange for a protected 2020 second-round pick originally belonging to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Harris was immediately waived by the Magic before landing a two-year, $2.5 million deal from Brooklyn.

He appeared in 52 games in 2016-17, starting 11, and shot .425/.385/.714 while averaging 8.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per game.

That set the stage for Harris’ breakout campaign in 2017-18, when he played in a career-high 78 games and made 14 starts, shooting a solid .491/.419/.827 in 25.3 minutes a game while averaging 10.7 points and 3.3 rebounds.

That made Harris a very attractive target as an unrestricted free agent, a player who has shown he can produce in the small-ball NBA while also having a reasonable cap number, expected to be in the $4 million to $7 million per year range, according to an April report by Michael Scotto of The Athletic.

Wojnarowski also released the new 2018-19 salary cap figures, which stands at $101.8 million with a luxury tax threshold of $123 million.

Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights crunched the numbers on the new cap for what the new max deals would look like:

Siegel also determined the rookie-scale for first-round picks, with Brooklyn’s 29th overall pick Dzanan Musa set to make $1,632,248 this season and $1,713,876 in 2019-20, with team options for $1,795,505 for 2020-21 and $3,240,886 for 2021-22 to follow.

The minimum salary will increase from $838, 464 for rookies to nearly $2.4 million for 10-year veterans:

According to Siegel’s calculations, the Nets enter the new league at nearly $20.3 million over the cap, with $25.1 million of that cap holds for free agents Harris, Nik Stauskas, Jahlil Okafor, Dante Cunningham and Quincy Acy.

When everything shakes out, the Nets will have a maximum of nearly $8.8 million in cap space for 2018-19 and are projected at this point to have a max of almost $71 million available in 2019-20.

Brooklyn does have early Bird rights on Harris, meaning they can exceed the cap to re-sign him and Harris had indicated in April his first choice would be to remain a Net.

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Teams can begin negotiating with free agents at midnight Eastern on Sunday, but nothing can be officially signed until the end of the league’s moratorium period on July 6.

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