After acquiring Rashad Vaughn for Tyler Zeller, the Brooklyn Nets made another move. Sean Marks moved Vaughn to the New Orleans Pelicans for Dante Cunningham.
And he’s gone as quickly as he came. Just days after Marks traded for him, Rashad Vaughn was sent to the New Orleans Pelicans. In return, the Brooklyn Nets received Dante Cunningham. It is a strange move, that does not make a ton of sense.
While Brooklyn could certainly use help in the frontcourt, Cunningham does not bring much in terms of rebounding. He only averages 3.8 total boards on the season. That would place him tied for sixth on the team with Caris LeVert.
Also, Brooklyn has actively tried to get younger when it can. Prior to the Cunningham trade, the Nets had two players 30 years old or over: DeMarre Carroll and Timofey Mozgov. Cunningham joins the duo as a part of Brooklyn’s “old man clique.”
“Can he shoot threes?” He can’t. After shooting a pretty impressive 39 percent from downtown last season, Cunningham has regressed tremendously this year. While he’s on pace to out-shoot himself, Cunningham is only converting on 32 percent of his shots from long range.
To put that into perspective, Quincy Acy is a more reliable three-point shooter than Cunningham. And we all know what happens when Acy starts shooting.
Overall, there is not much sense to this trade. While the Nets get an extra body down low, they got one that does not really do much. Cunningham is as much as a non factor as Brooklyn can get. It would be surprising to see him contribute major minutes on the floor.
Next: Players in Brooklyn want to stay in Brooklyn
So far, it has been pretty safe to say Marks has made some great deals. However, this one seems like a rare miss for the general manager. But it could be worse. At least Cunningham is only on a one year, $2.3 million deal.