NBA sharpshooter Joe Harris retires after 10-year career playing with Nets, Cavs and Pistons

After 10 years in the NBA, Joe Harris is retiring. The Brooklyn Nets, the team he spent seven seasons with, announced his retirement on social media, congratulating him on his career. Harris will go down as one of the most efficient 3-point shooters in league history. He retires with the fifth-highest 3-point shooting percentage in league history, averaging 43.5% from beyond the arc during a decade in the league.

He finishes with career averages of 10.3 points and three rebounds, while also shooting 47.9% from the field. Harris was selected 33rd overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2014 NBA Draft, after spending four years at the University of Virginia. While in college, Harris was a two-time All-ACC member, was named to the All-ACC Tournament team in 2014, as well as earning ACC Tournament MVP in the same year. In his senior season he helped lead Virginia to a 30-7 record, becoming ACC Conference champions and making it to the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 1 seed before falling to Michigan State.

Once drafted in the NBA, Harris saw limited minutes in his first two seasons in Cleveland, and was then traded to the Orlando Magic in 2016. Harris didn’t play a single minute with the Magic, as he was waived the same day he was traded there, and remained unsigned for the remainder of the 2015-16 season. 

His career jumpstarted when he signed with the Brooklyn Nets in the 2016 offseason, and immediately became a key role player off the bench in his first year there, averaging 22 minutes a night. Two seasons later he became a full-time starter, averaging 13.7 points and led the league in 3-point shooting (47.4%). He remained a starter with the Nets for the next two seasons, continuously ranking near the top of the league for 3-point percentage. He led the league once more in 3-point shooting in the 2020-21 season, where he averaged 14.1 points on a team that was just shy of making the Eastern Conference finals with Kevin Durant and James Harden.

The following season, Harris was limited to just 14 games after undergoing two ankle surgeries. He returned to the Nets the following year, and still showed great accuracy and efficiency as a 3-point threat, but was traded in July 2023 to the Detroit Pistons after Brooklyn was headed towards a rebuild following the trades of Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving. He played just 16 games with the Pistons due in part to a shoulder sprain, and was waived by the team at the trade deadline last season.

While injuries shortened the end of Harris’ career, he was one of the best sharpshooters in the league at his peak. He won the Three-Point Contest during All-Star Weekend in 2019 and was a key starter on several playoff teams while with the Brooklyn Nets. He’s only 32 years old and likely could’ve played several more years if he wanted to, but it appears as though he’s satisfied with the time he has in the NBA.