Joe Harris, one of the most pleasant surprises in training camp with the Nets, was also one of the few silver linings from Saturday’s 116-98 preseason loss to the Knicks at the Garden.

On a team starved for outside shooting, Harris is showing he can provide some, hitting 5-of-8 from deep. Overlooked and underrated, he’s just the kind of low-risk, high-reward gamble a rebooting team coming off a 21-61 season needs to take.

“I don’t like to single guys out,’’ said coach Kenny Atkinson, “but Joe Harris, you guys saw the other night, dynamic shooter.”

For the Nets, even decent shooter would be a huge help. After hitting the fifth-fewest 3s in the NBA last season, they tried to pry restricted free agent Allen Crabbe with a four-year, $75 million offer sheet. But when Portland matched, they had to move to Plan B.

Enter Harris.

A 2014 second-round pick out of Virginia by Cleveland, Harris had seen LeBron James’ return send player development out the window, and him bouncing back and forth to the D-League.

But he shot 40 percent from 3 for the Canton Charge, where Trajan Langdon was the Cavaliers executive in charge. When Langdon came to the Nets as assistant general manager, he knew they needed shooters, and knew where to find one.

Taking a two-year, $2 million chance on Harris was a no-brainer.

“My skill set matches up with the way we want to play pretty well, just being able to shoot the ball, moving hard off the screens, creating space on the offensive end,’’ said Harris, 25. “It’s definitely a good opportunity to fit in, plug into a system like coach Atkinson’s, and obviously the need on the team for shooters.”

After scoring a dozen points in the preseason-opening win over Detroit — hitting 2-of-4 from behind the arc — he followed that up with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting against the Knicks, including 3-of-4 from deep.

“Guys that are able to shoot the ball on this team really like it. The way the offense flows naturally guys are going to be able to get a lot of clean looks from three, so especially myself I really enjoy playing it,’’ Harris said. “They brought me on the team to be aggressive offensively, hunt shots. People take that for granted … If you’re just floating around, it doesn’t do any good on the offensive end.”

The rub is the defensive end, at least individually.

“Overall, there are some aspects I need to work on still,’’ said Harris, who has size at 6-foot-6 but limited foot speed. “I’m not the most laterally-quick guy.

“But you can still play where instead of reacting to how guys are playing, you can anticipate and get there ahead of time. That’s a big thing with me, just being able to be in the right position, know where you’re going to be and anticipating plays rather than reacting to how guys are moving off of you.”

The son of a coach, and having played for defensive-minded coaches Tony Bennett at Virginia and Tyronn Lue at Cleveland, Harris’ team defense outstrips his individual defense.

“Playing in a defensive-minded program like Virginia, we knew the only real shot we had … was to win the games on the defensive end,’’ said Harris. “And coming from Cleveland, Coach Lue, being around him for a couple of years he had a huge emphasis on the defensive end also. Two defensive-minded coaches helps you out, and getting here and being with this staff, a lot of similar principles defensively.”

Considering his limitations, Atkinson seems pleased with his defensive acumen and effort.

“Listen, he’s got a great defensive background. He went to UVa with Tony Bennett. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with his defensive effort so far,’’ said Atkinson. “The thing about Joe, he’s bigger than I thought. He’s 6-6, he’s got nice size, he got in there defensively and grabbed some rebounds. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with his defense.”

Atkinson also praised the recent play of reclamation project Anthony Bennett, a former No. 1 pick.