With free agency at its pinnacle and the offseason winding down, there isn’t much going on in the NBA. However, it still manages to surprise us. This time, it was a retirement announcement that caught all basketball fans off guard.
Veteran sharpshooter Joe Harris, who was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, retired on Thursday, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Harris, the 33rd overall choice in the 2014 NBA Draft, entered the league as an NBA-ready shooter from Virginia. It took him several years to adjust to the league.
After 10 NBA seasons, Joe Harris has retired from basketball. Harris played 504 NBA games for the Nets, Cavaliers and Pistons. He was a career 43.6 percent three-point shooter and won the Three-Point Contest at 2019 All-Star weekend. pic.twitter.com/2eLPJAhLzU
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 15, 2024
Harris was a seldom-used rookie on the Cavaliers’ 2014-15 NBA Finals squad. In his second year in the league, he had season-ending foot surgery and was traded to the Orlando Magic in the middle of the season. Later that season, Cleveland won the NBA title.
Unfortunately, Harris would never return to the NBA Finals for the remainder of his career. However, he had a successful career as a role player, with his greatest years coming with the Brooklyn Nets. During his seven seasons in Brooklyn, he averaged 11.6 points on 44% three-point shooting and established himself as one of the NBA’s finest shooters, winning the three-point contest in 2019.
Thanks to his reputation as an elite shooter, Harris signed a four-year, $72 million deal in 2020 before finishing out his career with the Detroit Pistons last season.
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