The Brooklyn Nets’ decision to trade star forward Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for a massive haul of NBA Draft assets shocked the basketball world.
General manager Sean Marks and Co. had pushed back against trading Bridges ever since they acquired him from the Phoenix Suns in the Kevin Durant blockbuster during the 2022-23 season.
By making this move ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft, Brooklyn clearly showed its hand. The team is going into full-scale rebuild mode.
Per Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, the Nets are open for business. In particular, they have pretty much every player on the roster available for trade. The report also indicates that Brooklyn is looking for first-round picks in the 2024 NBA Draft Wednesday night.
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4 players the Brooklyn Nets could trade during NBA Draft
Despite losing 50 games a season ago, there is still some strong talent on the Nets’ roster. Teams will certainly be calling to pry players away from Brooklyn. Here, we look at the four most-likely Nets players to be dealt.
- Cam Johnson: This forward also came over from Phoenix in the Durant deal. The 28-year-old averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists on 39% shooting from three last season. He’s playing under a four-year, $94.5 million contract. Some team selecting in the second half of the initial round might have interest.
- Dorian Finney-Smith: Reports over the past several months indicated that Brooklyn had turned down an offer of multiple first-round picks for this underrated defensive forward. He has positional flexibility in the frontcourt and is seen as a three-and-D type. Last season saw Finney-Smith average 8.5 points and 4.7 rebounds on 35% shooting from distance.
- Dennis Schroder: Will a team be willing to offer up a late first-round pick for Schroder? Sure. He has veteran experience and past success. There are also multiple point guard needy teams out there. The Phoenix Suns come to mind. Schroder averaged 14.0 points and 6.1 assists for the Nets last season.
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- Ben Simmons: Absolutely no trade value, right? Simmons has played in just 57 games since the end of the 2020-21 season. He has $40.3 million owed to him in the 2023-24 campaign. A non-starter. That’s until we realize it’s an expiring contract. Those are valuable. What is to stop a team like the Chicago Bulls from actually offering up Brooklyn draft capital to take on Zach LaVine’s bloated deal for Simmons’ expiring contract? Just some food for thought.