Joe Harris hasn’t played in a game for the Brooklyn Nets since Nov. 14. Against Oklahoma City, the 30-year-old injured his left ankle and underwent surgery on Nov. 29, sidelining him anywhere between 4-8 weeks.
Before being injured, Harris started in all 14 games and averaged 11.3 points per contest. He was shooting 45.2% from the field and 46.6% from the 3-point line.
Harris got off to a rocky start this year, but before getting hurt, he was finally emerging out of the shooting slump that he had been in since the end of last year.
When Steve Nash spoke with the media on Monday before Brooklyn’s game against Memphis, the main topic of the conversation was Kyrie Irving’s season debut. However, Nash also provided a key update on Harris.
Steve Nash says Joe Harris is still a couple weeks away from returning.
— Alex Schiffer (@Alex__Schiffer) January 3, 2022
Joe Harris expected to return to the Brooklyn Nets in a couple of weeks.
So, the Nets are working their way back from losing the majority of their roster to the health and safety protocols. Irving kicked off his part-time player role against Indiana on Wednesday night, and soon enough Brooklyn will have Harris back.
For a team that’s had issues with scoring, the Nets shouldn’t have too much to worry about in the not-too-distant future. Now all that’s left is for Brooklyn to get its 3-point shooter back. Where is Harris at in his recovery?
Nash said that he isn’t sure where the 30-year-old is at in his rehab process (kind of weird?), and stressed that he doesn’t want Harris to have to deal with any lingering effects from his injury upon his return.
"“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what he’s able to do right now because there have been different iterations of his rehab. We think we still got a couple of weeks in that ballpark. We’ll see how it goes. It could take longer than that but like I said, whatever the length of time is it, I just want it to be behind him when he comes out of it. We all feel pretty confident in that.”"
OK, we’ll take it … but how is there not a more definitive line of communication here where Nash is fully in the know about Harris’ situation? It’s understandable that they don’t want to rush him back, and they don’t need to with Irving returning as a part-time player, but some clarity in these media sessions would be great.
Nevertheless, Brooklyn will be glad to have Harris’ sharpshooting abilities back … soon-ish. The Nets re-signed him to a four-year contract in 2020 for a reason, and will particularly need him as we head down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Is it time for the Nets to start questioning Steve Nash?
The Brooklyn Nets' roster is made up of an extreme amount of talent, but could head coach Steve Nash end up hurting the team in the long run?