NBN Roundtable: Trade Deadline Edition

A Dream Trade You Would Love to See the Nets Make?

Christian Milcos: If you follow my social media, you know how imperative I believe it is to deal Bojan Bogdanovic before the deadline. Even though he is a restricted free agent, his cap hold would be a road block for the Nets to pursue big name free agents when they are fully loaded with assets in 2019. Bogdanovic has simply not taken advantage of the opportunity that was presented to him to become the Nets primary perimeter scorer this season.

Other wings who are a third or fourth option of their respective teams such as, Arron Afflalo and Maurice Harkless both netted contracts that featured an annual salary of at least $10 million. Bogdanovic will likely expect similar numbers from a team this summer. In order to avoid paying this hefty sum for a player who has shown little progression since his rookie season, they must deal him.

Perhaps trying to deal for players on small contract who still have upside would be a wise route to take. The Houston Rockets are always in need of more shooters to surround James Harden, and third year wing, KJ McDaniels is receiving little playing time for Mike D’antoni’s squad. McDaniels had an excellent rookie season with Philadelphia before being buried in the Rockets’ rotation for the past season and a half. The Clemson alum has raw athletic skills with much potential to improve in the coming years. He is on a very friendly, $6 million contract for this season and in 2017-2018. This would be an excellent, low risk, high reward trade for Sean Marks and company to pursue before February’s trade deadline.  

Tyler Dencker: It’s tough to pinpoint a player and remain realistic, but the Nets ideally need a young and explosive player to build around. The Nets aren’t looking to build a team to compete with the Cavaliers and Warriors – but rather they are building a team with the intent of contending for a title in the future. A completely unrealistic-dream-like scenario would be trading for someone along the likes of Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard (would never happen). The point is, the Nets are really looking for a great young player, but they will realistically need to draft them or sign them in free agency.

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Max Prinz: New Orleans trades Omer Asik, Tyreke Evans, a 2017 lottery-protected first round pick and a 2019 unprotected first round pick to Brooklyn for Brook Lopez. This trade only occurs if New Orleans feels the pressure from ownership to make the playoffs this season. Under that scenario, I think the Pelicans and GM Dell Demps would have to think very hard about a deal like this. He would shed one of the worst contracts in the league in Asik and the lottery protection this season offers an insurance policy if Lopez doesn’t gel. The Pelicans also spare Anthony Davis from having to play center all game, with a player who can also shoot the three. The Nets, meanwhile, get to start to rebuild their draft cupboard and get a player who, while flawed, can score and contribute this season without a long term commitment. 

Alex Cuesta:  The trade that I am presenting would lack in picks, but bring in young talent to continue the rebuild. I’d send Lopez and shooting guard Bojan Bogdanovic to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for forward Jabari Parker and shooting guard Khris Middleton. I feel like this would be a win-win for both franchises. It would help the Bucks get closer to being a real contender in the East and the Nets would get young players to continue to build towards the future. 

While Nets fans may scoff at not getting any picks in this trade, I feel that they would make up for that with the talent of the players they’d acquire. Parker was a player that was meant to be the focal point of the Bucks when drafted, but the rise of Antetokounmpo has made him all but an afterthought. At only 21 years old, he has plenty of time left in his career to develop into being “the guy” on the Nets. 

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Khris Middleton would start at shooting guard and, as a result, allow coach Atkinson to create depth on his bench. The Nets would make up for not having a first round pick until 2019 by getting the number two overall pick from 2014 in Parker. His pedigree is among the best in the league and his 20 points a game average this season shows that he is progressing well as a player. This move would give the Nets the star they need to build around for the future.