Brooklyn Nets: History of Nets in NBA All-Star Game
By Phil Watson
2009: Devin Harris
When Devin Harris was selected as a reserve for the Eastern Conference All-Star team in 2009, it marked the franchise-record streak of consecutive years with an All-Star would extend to nine years.
He was having a breakout season, entering the break averaging 21.8 points, 6.5 assists, 3,2 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 47 games, shooting 44.1 percent overall and 31.6 percent on 2.8 3-point attempts a game.
Harris was less than two weeks from his 26th birthday when he arrived in Phoenix for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, in his fifth NBA season. He had been acquired by the New Jersey Nets a year earlier in a blockbuster deal that sent franchise icon Jason Kidd back to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Nets entered the break at 24-29, a game behind the eighth-place Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference and third in the Atlantic Division.
Harris played 17 minutes in Phoenix, scoring six points with one rebound on 3-of-6 shooting, missing his lone 3-point attempt.
The game turned into a rout in the second half as the West cruised to a 146-119 win. Former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, playing together for the first time since O’Neal had been traded in 2004 to the Miami Heat, shared MVP honors.
Bryant, still with the Lakers, had 27 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals, while O’Neal — by the with the host Phoenix Suns — scored 17 points with five rebounds, three assists and a block in just 11 minutes.
The Nets stumbled to the finish, going just 10-19 after the break, and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.
Harris remained with New Jersey until February 2011, when he was dealt to the Utah Jazz in the trade that brought Deron Williams to the Nets.
He’s been well-traveled since, traded to the Atlanta Hawks in July 2012 and re-signing with the Mavericks in July 2013 and again in July 2014.
In February 2018, Harris was part of a three-team trade that moved him to the Denver Nuggets, but he re-upped with Dallas last August for his 15th NBA season.