The Brooklyn Nets are tanking this season, which was cemented by two trades they made. The first was trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic, 5 first round picks, a pick swap and a second round pick. The next was trading first round picks in 2027 and 2029 along with pick swaps in 2025 and 2029 to the Rockets for their own picks in 2025 and 2026, which had previously been traded for James Harden in 2021 (remember when the Nets had James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving). Equipped with their own picks in the next two drafts and a whole lot of future Knicks picks, the Nets are ready to fall to the bottom of the league.
There are some players who could be seen as long term building blocks on the Nets roster. The first is Cam Thomas, who is coming off of a breakout season for Brooklyn last year. Averaging 22.5 points on shooting splits of .44/.36/.86, Thomas is one of the purest bucket getters the NBA has, his 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game are evidence of this, and he seems like a real piece in Brooklyn moving forward. He needs to improve on his playmaking ability, having 2 small guards on the court is not something that many teams like to do so turning into a combo guard will be important for him and his ability to do that will dictate whether or not he is a long term piece for the Nets. However, Thomas has proven he can put the ball in the basket at a high level in the NBA and that is a big deal for a player that was the number 27 overall pick. Nic Claxton is another guy who can be a building block for future Nets teams. Last season was one of the best of Claxton’s career averaging 11.8 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, Claxton has become one of the best rim protectors in the NBA. After signing a new 4yr/$100 million with Brooklyn this summer, the 2019 2nd round pick will be one of Brooklyn’s long term building blocks. The Nets also have a bunch of young players who have a chance to carve out a solid NBA career on the team. 2023 first round picks Noah Clowny and Dariq Whitehead are entering their second seasons and Clowny showed some promise at the end of last season. Jalen Wilson was the 51st pick in the 2023 draft and won summer league MVP, after averaging 21.8 points and 4.6 rebounds over the 5 games in Vegas, and also played well at the end of last season. Ziaire Williams was the 10th pick in the 2021 NBA draft and while he has not hit yet, at just 23 years old, he still has a chance to become a productive NBA player. Lastly, young big men Trenton Watford and Day’Ron Sharpe have shown some flashes as well and the Nets could look to keep them into future years, though Sharpe is also seen as a trade piece. With that said, there are a lot of veterans who could become trade chips this season.
Dorian Finney-Smith probably should have already been traded and a sign-and-trade with Cleveland for Issac Okoro makes a ton of sense. If that does not present itself, there are a ton of teams who would be interested in Finney-Smith. Teams like the Lakers, Heat, Clippers and Hawks could be teams that call the Nets about a Finney-Smith trade. The Hawks could dump Clint Capela and 2nd round draft capital to the Nets for Finney-Smith, Sharpe and Shake Milton. The Clippers could offer P.J. Tucker’s expiring $11 million and 46th overall pick Cam Christie for Finney-Smith as well. As someone who has been pushing for the Nets to trade Finney-Smith since the deadline, I think they missed the boat to acquire a first round pick in a potential trade. Dennis Schroder is another player who the Nets will likely look to trade at some point. Schroder had a really good 2022-23 season with the Los Angeles Lakers so they could enter the running to acquire the 30-year-old point guard. An offer of Gabe Vincent and Jalen Hood-Schifino is one that I could see both sides liking. Would the Nets take Tucker and a future 2nd in a Schroder deal? I think they would. Bojan Bogdanovic is another big expiring contract Brooklyn has on their books and another they could look to trade. Capela is a player they could acquire here and is Grant Williams and Cody Martin something that would interest either side? There are a lot of players that Sean Marks could and should look to trade between now and February’s trade deadline.
The last player we have not talked about, besides Ben Simmons who will not be talked about beyond this mention, is Cam Johnson. Johnson is coming off of a down season, averaging 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists on shooting splits of .45/.39/.79. It was a down year for Johnson in the first year of a 4yr/$94.5 million contract he signed last July and because of that the market is down, which is why I would keep him. Cam Johnson is a good basketball player who has been a contributor on a team that came within 2 wins of a championship so we have proof he can help a contender. At his peak value, Johnson is a player that I think is worth 2 first round picks. Why should the Nets take less value for a 28-year-old player that has 3-years left on his contract at a very reasonable price? His defense was bad last season, according to PBP Stats, the Nets were 3.1 points per 100 possessions better on defense with Johnson off the court than they were with him on but the Nets were bad last season and his effort could have slipped because of it. Johnson’s value might not increase this upcoming season but I think the Nets should take the risk and hope it does.
The 2024-25 Brooklyn Nets are going to be bad, really bad. However, that means they are moving in the right direction. Armed with their own pick for what many are calling an elite 2025 draft, the Nets are going to get a top pick and be able to draft a cornerstone player for years to come.
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