A number of the NBA’s more knowledgeable pundits think this will be a quiet trade deadline, with only one team, the Kings, having ANY cap space (they have $11 million).
Still, there are others who think a select group of teams will make headlines. And one of them is Brooklyn.
In the past several days, both ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Yahoo’s Keith Smith say we should expect the Nets to be buyers before 3:15 pm on February 7...
@WindhorstESPN stated this on his Pod today: “If you are talking about teams at the trade deadline...The Nets are out there looking as well.”
— GNYR (@GNYR_82) January 17, 2019
Teams that are most active in trying to acquire help: Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Orlando, Sacramento. Houston, New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Clippers. All have been coming up regularly as gauging who might be available to acquire via trade or after a buyout.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) January 18, 2019
No names of course —this is Sean Marks after all— but the Nets do have a number of big expiring deals, like DeMarre Carroll’s $15.4 million; Kenneth Faried’s $13.8 million and Jared Dudley’s $9.5 million to play with. They also have Allen Crabbe, who’s being paid $18.5 million this year and has a player option for the same amount next year, an option he’s sure to exercise.
The team is also one of only four teams with multiple picks in this year’s Draft, their own and the Nuggets, which is likely to be somewhere between Nos. 25 and 30.
What might Nets want in return? Hard to tell. If Marks wants to make a playoff push, then he could go for a stretch 4. And he’s said that his owners, Mikhail Prokhorov and Joe Tsai, will be ready to lay down the big bucks when called upon.
But if he’s still gathering assets, he might want to add picks.
The deadline is still three weeks away, but don’t be surprised to see things start to percolate soon.