Joe Harris successfully underwent his second procedure of the season on his ankle, the Nets announced late Monday night.
The left ankle ligament reconstruction surgery took place at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay and was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson. Harris is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the start of training camp next season, the team said in a statement.
The update is hopefully the final turn in what has been an ongoing saga for Harris and the Nets this season. The Nets’ sharpshooter suffered his initial injury on Nov. 14 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and underwent his first ankle procedure two weeks later.
The operation, an arthroscopic surgery, was conducted at the Hospital for Special Surgery by Dr. Martin O’Malley.
Since then it had been an ongoing guessing game if or when Harris would play again this season as reports surfaced in January that he had sought a second opinion on his ankle. Brooklyn coach Steve Nash later indicated a second procedure was possible in February.
It wasn’t until March that Nets general manager Sean Marks finally confirmed that the guard/forward would need season-ending surgery during an interview with broadcast partner YES Network.
“Unfortunately Joe has done everything he possibly could do up to this point to avoid having surgery and wanting to be back with his teammates,” Marks said at the time. “He is what defines a Brooklyn Net, but unfortunately it’s been determined in the last 24 hours that he’s going to have to have season-ending surgery. Which we’ll follow up in the next week or two, but we feel terrible for Joe. We all know how much he means to this group.”
Harris has been one of the most reliable players during his tenure with the Nets. He was only able to appear in 14 games this season before the injury occurred and averaged 11.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 30.2 minutes per game.
