Brooklyn Nets Intend to Release Marcus Thornton
By Sandy Mui
After trading Bojan Bogdanovic and Chris McCullough to the Washington Wizards, the Brooklyn Nets plan to release one of their acquisitions, Marcus Thornton.
One day before the trade deadline, the Brooklyn Nets finally made a deal, which involved swingman Bojan Bogdanovic. In return, the Nets got Marcus Thornton, Andrew Nicholson, and the Wizards’ 2017 first-round draft pick.
The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Nets do not plan on keeping Thornton, who spent half of the 2013-14 season in Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Nets plan to waive Marcus Thornton, league sources tell @TheVertical. Thornton was part of trade with Washington today.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 23, 2017
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At the time, the Nets received Thornton in exchange for Jason Terry and Reggie Evans. The addition of Thornton gave Brooklyn a major boost, which was most evident in Thornton’s game log in the first half of March 2014. From March 1 to March 15, the shooting guard had three 20-point performances, while contributing to six wins in eight games for the Nets.
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Through 26 games with Brooklyn, he averaged 12.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, and one steal in 23.8 minutes. After the season was over, Thornton was traded to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team deal that also involved the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Since then, the 29-year-old shooting guard has found his way through four NBA teams (all via trades), with the Wizards as the fourth. This season, he hasn’t played all that much in Washington (33 games), posting just 6.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.6 steals in 17.4 minutes per game.
The Wizards’ first-round draft pick was undeniably Brooklyn’s target in the trade, so it’s not surprising that they intend to release Thornton.
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With Thornton gone, the Nets free up another space on their roster, since their exchange with Washington involved two players for two players. It’ll be interesting to see if Brooklyn plans on using this extra roster spot for another deal, if they plan on receiving more players than they give. Franchise center Brook Lopez has still yet to move on the trade block.