NBA rumors: 3 Nets expected to be traded before deadline
11/10/2024 03:29 PM
The Brooklyn Nets have looked a lot better this season than most would have likely thought considering the team traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks over the offseason. But that doesn’t mean the Nets are contenders or clinging onto players who, if traded, could help their rebuild.
After blowing a sizable lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, the Nets have a 4-6 record, which is good enough for a tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn owns its first-round draft pick this year, though, so it would be in the franchise’s best interest to fall down into the basement of the NBA.
Good players typically will make that mission harder to accomplish, which is why the Nets might have to make some trades sooner rather than later, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
“[…T]he Nets might be a little bit more competent on the court than the front office truly wants them to be after reacquiring full control of Brooklyn’s 2025 and 2026 draft picks from Houston,” Stein wrote on his Substack. “Dennis Schröder, Dorian Finney-Smith, Bojan Bogdanović are all quality vets possessing sub-$20 million salaries and frequently mentioned by rival teams as players they expect to be moved between now and the Feb. 6 trade deadline. With first-year coach Jordi Fernandez clearly trying to win games, Brooklyn might have to ponder stripping down even earlier than it imagined.”
Nets could go full rebuild very soon with trades
Once the Nets traded Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving ahead of the 2023 NBA trade deadline, it seemed likely that the Nets would soon be a rebuilding team. After all, trading two superstars, even if they had both requested trades at some point in the previous nine months, isn’t a win-now move.
However, the Nets, as a result of the success Durant and Irving led them to, still managed to make it to the playoffs despite being a sub-.500 team without the star pairing. Bridges, formerly a role player with the Phoenix Suns, also seemed on the verge of blossoming into a legitimate star player.
The 2023 season ended with a four-game sweep against the Philadelphia 76ers, and despite a contingent of talented players, the Nets finished 32-50 in 2024. And when it seemed like there was little hope the Nets would be able to rebuild because of their lack of draft capital, the Knicks swooped in to alleviate those issues.
The Knicks, who have rarely traded with the Nets throughout the franchise’s history, sent Brooklyn four of its first-round picks, a first-round swap, a Milwaukee Bucks first-rounder, and a second-round pick to acquire Bridges. The Nets also acquired their own 2025 first-round pick back from the Houston Rockets, giving the Nets several chances to rebuild their roster through the upcoming draft.
Sending out veteran players like Schröder, Finney-Smith, Bogdanović, and Cam Johnson would seem wise so the team can dive deeper into its rebuild, especially when several championship-contending teams would likely be interested in bolstering their rosters.
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