Could Joe Harris’ season be over?
Harris’ agent, Mark Bartelstein, told the media on Thursday night that the Nets’ sharpshooter, who underwent surgery on November 29 to remove “loose bodies” in his ankle, may be facing a second surgery that could put his season in doubt.
“We’re just evaluating. He’s working his way back, he’s rehabbing. But we’re just trying to figure out what’s going to be the best course of action. We have to come to that decision,” Bartelstein told The New York Post. “So, I can’t really give you a definitive answer, because we just don’t have it yet of what we’re going to do.”
Harris has played 14 games this season, the last on Nov. 14, and was averaging 11.3 points and shooting 46.6 percent on three-pointers before exiting due to the ankle issue. Nets head coach Steve Nash told the media about two weeks ago that Harris had “some flare-ups” in his rehab, but was “continuing to stay positive and work on his rehab and try to overcome it.”
The original timeline for Harris’ recovery was four-to-eight weeks, the high end of which would have been late January. Now, about 10 weeks out from surgery, his timeline may be the remainder of the 2021-22 season, a big blow to the already-depleted Nets who were hoping for a return.
“It’s possible that there could be one more procedure he could do that would fix the ankle once and for good. But we’re not sure if we need that or not,” Bartelstein said. “So the long-term prognosis is great, it’s not gonna be a problem; but it’s just do we need to do something additional right now or not, and we’re just trying to figure that out.”
According to Bartelstein, Harris and the team will make a decision likely by the All-Star Break as to Harris’ future.
“We’re just constantly kind of evaluating it. He’s trying to work back and working really hard at it, and we’re just trying to figure it out,” Bartelstein said. “It’s just it’s either his ankle is going to respond and he’ll be able to play right now, or there might be one little more procedure we need to do just to get it completely right. And we’re just trying to figure that out. I think in the next week or so we’ll have a better feeling of what we’re going to do.”
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