The Nets have had the toughest schedule in the NBA so far and stumbled through it shorthanded. But the Nets are finally on the verge of getting whole.
Joe Harris and Markieff Morris have both been removed from the injury report, expected to suit up Saturday against Indiana. And Seth Curry has taken a huge step toward making his season debut, listed as questionable against the Pacers.
Curry has missed the entire preseason and first five games of the regular season recovering from offseason surgery on his left ankle. After practicing with G League Long Island, the shooting guard is on the brink of returning.
Harris sat out Thursday’s loss to Dallas, managing his offseason ankle surgery more than the sore foot that had kept him out of the last three preseason tilts and the regular-season opener.
Curry and Harris are Nos. 1 and 2 among active players in 3-point percentage, third and fourth all-time. They’ll help a Brooklyn team that is fifth-worst in 3-point percentage (32.1) and sixth-worst in makes (10.2).
Nets forward Markieff Morris (13) talks to the media during media day at HSS Training Center. Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY SportsMorris missed the past three games due to the death of someone close.
Harris’ availability and return to peak conditioning should give Steve Nash some tough decisions. The starting lineup of the Big 3, Nic Claxton and Royce O’Neale has a minus-15.8 net rating, worst of any group in the NBA that’s logged over 40 minutes together. They’d been a minus-35 in 49 minutes.
But that starting lineup make progress Thursday against Dallas, a plus-14 in nine minutes. Does Nash stick with O’Neale or give Harris the nod?
The latest Forbes valuations of NBA teams saw the Nets jump up to an estimated $3.5 billion, up nine percent from the $3.2 billion that Joe Tsai paid Mikhail Prokhorov in 2019 (including Barclays Center). It lines up with Sportico’s earlier assessment of $3.61 billion.
But Forbes also estimated the Nets were the only team in the league to lose money last year, roughly $34 million. Their numbers appear to be drawn on previous reporting in the Post that detailed the Nets’ losses.
The Warriors topped the list at $7 billion, ahead of the Knicks at $6.1 billion.
