Joe Harris arrived in Brooklyn in the summer of 2016, looking for a chance to get his career going again with a team searching for talent to launch a rebuild.
“It’s a big difference from six years ago,” said Harris. “It was a young, really developing team that had a lot of guys really fighting to get in the league and solidify niches for themselves.”
“He’s turned into obviously a very good player, an elite shooter, a starter in this league,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “He continues to get better and better. But there is something to be said for he was one of the guys here in the beginning of this rebuild, the beginning of forming the culture here and being a part of the history of this club over the last five, six years. I think that’s valuable that he’s seen it and done it all with this group. He’s kind of the heart and soul and glue guy because he has been here from the beginning.”
Since then, Harris had made at least 150 3-pointers in a season four times, with the second (211, 2020-21), fourth (183, 2018-19) and fifth (172, 2019-20) highest single-season totals in franchise history. He went into Wednesday night’s game with the fifth-highest career 3-point percentage in NBA history (43.6), just a shade behind Nets legend Drazen Petrovic (43.6).
Harris led the league in 3-point shooting in 2018-19 (47.4) and 2020-21 (47.5), the two highest single-season percentages in Nets history, and his 45.8 percentage over the previous three years combined leads all NBA players. He memorably won the 3-Point Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in 2019, besting Stephen Curry in the final round.
Now, he’s the Nets franchise leader in 3-pointers made, surpassing Hall of Famer Jason Kidd. In making five 3-pointers in the 106-93 loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, Harris now has 816 3-pointers as a Net, leaving Kidd and his 813 in second place.
“He’s an elite shooter for a reason,” said Nash. “His dedication and discipline to do it every day is outstanding and that’s why he is where he is, especially, I don’t think that anyone thought when he was in high school or college that he’d be the Nets all-time leader in 3-pointers, so I think that’s just a tribute to how dedicated and how much he’s willing to sacrifice to continue to grow as a player and to be in that type of category.”
Harris entered the game two 3-pointers away from tying Kidd, and he took care of that in the first seven minutes, first with a right-wing triple and then another from the left corner. In the opening minute of the second half, Harris took a handoff from Blake Griffin in the left corner, rose in a crowd, and connected for the record-breaker.
“I think I’m lucky to come to a spot where I was afforded an opportunity as a young player, kind of grow through a lot of different mistakes, and then you kind of grow and figure it out along the way,” said Harris. “Like I said earlier, it’s more about the people around you that end up making the individual player. So coming here and having a lot of great coaches and teammates, that’s what fosters great individual talent.”
While the Nets gave Harris an opportunity six years ago with the vision of his growing into a 3-point weapon, he’s also been more than that. Harris grew his game across the board, becoming an effective finisher to punish defenses that ran him off the line and shooting better than 50 percent overall last season. Dating back to the 2018-19 season, Harris has started all but four of the 219 games he’s played, with the Nets rising in tandem with three consecutive playoff appearances during that stretch.
“He wants to be good, he wants to be an impactful player every day and that shows in his work ethic and his attention to detail,” said Kevin Durant. “We're all growing as individuals and as players and Joe has grown so far since his UVA days and Cleveland Cavalier days and once he came here they worked with him so much to the point where he understood who he was as a player and he started to grow within that role. It's one of those things where you see it in the stats. To lead the franchise in 3-point makes is an amazing accomplishment from — I don't know what town in Washington. I'm happy for him.”