2018 NBA free agency grades: Joe Harris will re-up with Nets

Per reports, the Brooklyn Nets have agreed to retain rotational swingman Joe Harris on a 2-year deal. Here’s what the deal means going forward, and how we grade it.

Joe Harris has returned to the Brooklyn Nets. Per ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, Harris plans to sign for two years at $16 million, for an average of $8 million per year.

This is quite the payday for Harris, a former castaway who seldom got minutes with the Cleveland Cavaliers before being shipped out. After finding a niche in Brooklyn, Harris exhibited exactly why he belongs in the NBA.

Since donning a Nets uniform, Harris has converted on 40.6 percent of his 3-point attempts. These weren’t small samples either; he averaged 4.5 3-point attempts per game. Harris’ marksmanship is both impressive and integral to the Nets, a team who took the second-most 3s in the league in 2017-18.

What makes Harris really valuable is his quick release. His ability to come around screens and immediately fire off the catch is extremely helpful to an otherwise underwhelming offense. The threat of his shot opens up the offense quite a bit, such as for D’Angelo Russell driving lanes, Jarrett Allen pick-and-roll dives and Spencer Dinwiddie dimes.

His efficiency does not stop at shooting, either. Last season, Harris converted on 62.7 percent of his drives to the basket, which was the best in the league. That’s a valuable tool to have in his bag, especially when the defender is hounding him at the 3-point line.

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That penetration is another way to open up the team’s offense. The threat of a finisher like Harris forces the defense to collapse and worry about him, which then usually leaves a shooter open to capitalize. These are two of the biggest ways to get a defense on its toes, and Harris is great at both.

The contract itself has both benefits and concerns. On one hand, the Nets will retain Harris for a solid price. There were concerns that a team with significant cap space could overpay him for one year, but that didn’t manifest.

This is partially a byproduct of no one having money this summer. After the salary cap skyrocketed in the summer of 2016, everyone spent their cap space like there was no tomorrow. The dearth of cap space around the league stems from that summer, and it makes 2018 a bad year to be a free agent.

On the other hand though, the contract length is worth noting. This means Harris will be a free agent in 2020, the summer that a lot of those onerous contracts from 2016 come off the books. This means that Harris is in line for a bigger pay day the next time he hits the open market.

Fortunately, the Nets will have his Bird Rights, which means they can go over the cap to re-sign him. Even in an inflated cap market though, Harris is unlikely to get anything the Nets won’t match.

It looks as though Joe Harris is here to stay, regardless of the length of his new contract. The way Kenny Atkinson utilizes him is evidence of his developmental acumen, and Harris’ renaissance is a credit to the front office for taking a chance on him.

Harris isn’t making or breaking the franchise, but snipers and cutters are all the rage in today’s NBA.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

Grade: B+