UVA Basketball alum Joe Harris announced his retirement from the NBA on Thursday, ending an improbable 10-year pro career that was thisclose to coming to an end before it ever had a chance to get off the ground.
A second-round draft pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, Harris got limited minutes as a rookie, averaging 2.7 points in 9.6 minutes per game, and then was dealt in a salary-cap dump in the midst of an injury-riddled second season to the Orlando Magic, who promptly waived him after he’d undergone surgery on his right foot.
Harris signed a free-agent deal with a bad Brooklyn Nets team ahead of the 2016-2017, and the change of scenery, and a boost in playing time for a Nets team that went on to a 20-62 finish in his first year in the Big Apple, brought out the best in the guy that we came to know as Joey Buckets in his time on Grounds.
Harris put up double-digit numbers in a five-season stretch, and twice led the NBA in three-point shooting – with a 47.4 percent clip in 2018-2019 and a 47.5 percent mark in 2020-2021.
Two of his last three seasons were limited by injuries, with Harris getting into just 16 games in what turned out to be his final season, with the Detroit Pistons.
Over 504 games in his 10-year NBA career, Harris averaged 10.3 points per game, shot 47.9 percent from the field and 43.6 percent from three.
He also made $92.2 million in salary, not bad for a guy who was the State of Washington’s Mr. Basketball as a player at a tiny 1A school in 2010, and was not, as a consensus three-star recruit, on the radar of NBA scouts when he matriculated across the country to play for Tony Bennett at Virginia.
Harris went on to be a four-year starter at UVA, averaging 12.6 points per game, shooting 48.4 percent from the field an 40.7 percent from three, and he was a cornerstone of the group that included future NBA players Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill and Justin Anderson that led the Bennett turnaround at Virginia.
Harris was the MVP of the 2014 ACC Tournament as the ‘Hoos brought home their first tournament title in 38 years, on their way to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a Sweet Sixteen appearance.
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Chris Graham
