Throughout the season, the positive developments around the Nets seemed to be compared (and often suppressed) by failures.
So it was appropriate that about an hour before Kevin Durant returned for his first game in more than six weeks, the team announced that Joe Harris would be absent for the season.
The sniper has not played since November 14 and needed surgery on his left ankle on November 29. The procedure was expected to leave him outside for four to eight weeks, but his ankle did not heal as expected.
Additional arthroscopic surgery is scheduled for the coming weeks, GM Sean Marx announced Thursday, meaning Harris will not be on the court again this season or postseason.
“We know how deeply disappointed Joe is to miss this long journey, but he remains a huge part of what we are as an organization,” Marx said in a statement before the Nets lost to Heath at the Barclays Center, “and until he won, ‘ to contribute to the court, his presence and positivity around the team will continue to be felt by all. “
Harris is the longest-running Net, a bridge between eras since joining the team in 2016-17 (a group led by Brooke Lopez). He saw the bad and the good times and wanted a chance to redeem himself after a bad postseason last year.
Joe Harris is not suitable for the Nets from November 14. Getty Images
However, his campaign ended after 14 games. If he qualifies, the 30-year-old will be the leader with 3 percentage points in the league (46.6).
In good health, the Nets have enough wings without Harris after adding Seth Curry to Patty Mills. But Mills struggles as his minutes pile up, and the 6-foot Harris offers a presence and flexibility that 6-2 Curry doesn’t.
Brooklyn is used to these blows. Durant played in his first game in about a month and a half after spraining an MCL in his left knee. Ben Simmons has not made his debut since the Nets exchanged him three weeks ago, and due to a back injury he has at least two more weeks left. Kyrie Irving was first expelled and then returned as a part-time player due to her vaccination status.
Joe Harris Corey Sipkin
But Harris is the first loss the Nets will definitely feel in the postseason.
Marx said that Harris had worked “diligently over the past few months” to restore his ankle. Harris’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, warned Brian Lewis of The Post that the procedure was imminent.
“There may be another procedure to do that will fix the ankle once and for all,” Bartelstein said last month. “So the long-term forecast is great, it won’t be a problem.”