Brooklyn Nets deal Jeremy Lin to Atlanta Hawks, add Kenneth Faried from Denver Nuggets
By Phil Watson
The Brooklyn Nets swung a pair of deals late Thursday, according to reports, sending Jeremy Lin to the Atlanta Hawks and getting Kenneth Faried from the Denver Nuggets.
Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks made a pair of big moves Thursday night, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, sending point guard Jeremy Lin to the Atlanta Hawks to free up space to take on Kenneth Faried‘s contract from the Denver Nuggets.
The key to the Denver trade is that the Nets pick up a protected 2019 first-round pick from the Nuggets. Wojnarowski reported the pick is top-12 protected and with Denver making a playoff push for next season, that is a pick likely to convey next summer.
That would give the Nets two first-rounders in 2019, their own and Denver’s if it is below No. 13.
The #Wojbombs as they fell:
Brooklyn has traded Jeremy Lin to the Hawks, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 13, 2018
Denver has agreed to send Kenneth Faried, Darrell Arthur, a 2019 protected first-round pick and a future second round pick to Nets for Isaiah Whitehead, league sources tell ESPN. Salary dump for Denver.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 13, 2018
Denver unloads $21M in salary on the deal. Nuggets will waive Whitehead, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/ot9P5TajeX
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 13, 2018
Nets and Hawks will also exchange future second-round picks in the deal, league sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/n5qooxLmQJ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 13, 2018
Source: Denver's 2019 first-round pick to Brooklyn is protected 1-12.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 13, 2018
Whew!
According to Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights, the leaves Brooklyn $1.23 million under the cap (a figure that will change when Rodions Kurucs signs his reported four-year, $1.7 million deal).
This opens the door for the Nets to use their early Bird rights to re-signed guard Joe Harris, who had agreed to a two-year, $16 million contract, and to fit big man Ed Davis into their $4.45 million bi-annual exception slot. Davis agreed to a deal to leave the Portland Trail Blazers on July 1.
The Lin deal opened up the space for the Nets to take on Faried’s expiring $13.8 million contract, as well as the expiring deal of Darrell Arthur at $7.5 million.
What remains to be seen at this point is whether Faried and/or Arthur will play next season in Brooklyn or if Marks will look to buy either or both of them out.
Lin came to the Nets on a three-year, $36 million deal as an unrestricted free agent in July 2016 after playing one season with the Charlotte Hornets. He exercised his $12.5 million option for 2018-19 in February.
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Lin was generally effective as a Net, posting a 19.1 PER, but he also only played in 37 games over the two seasons he was in Brooklyn.
He missed 46 games in 2016-17 with a hamstring issue and last season tore the patella tendon in his right knee on opening night and missed the rest of the season.
He did average 14.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 24.5 minutes per game on .437/.373/.824 shooting, so again — he was effective when he was healthy enough to play.
In dealing Isaiah Whitehead to the Nuggets, it clears his $1.5 million contract off the books, a deal that is scheduled to become guaranteed on July 31 if he is not waived. The Nuggets have indicated they plan to release Whitehead.
The 2016 second-round pick of the Utah Jazz was acquired on draft night by the Nets and started 26 games as a rookie, but spent most of last season with the G-League’s Long Island Nets.
The point guard was caught in a depth chart logjam behind D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie and coach Kenny Atkinson also added Caris LeVert to the mix at the point.
It wasn’t that long ago that the 28-year-old Faried was considered a rising star in the NBA, but with the game becoming more pace-and-space oriented, the classic power forward lost some of his luster.
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Faried played in just 32 games for Denver last season and did not play in a game after Feb. 1. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.8 rebounds on .514/0-for-1/.706 shooting while playing 14.4 minutes a game.
His career averages are 11.4 points and 8.2 rebounds in 24.9 points per game on a .543/.100/.655 slash line. He was the 22nd overall pick by the Nuggets from Morehead State in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Arthur turned himself into a stretch-4 combo forward, but has battled a chronic left knee injury the last two seasons, playing in just 60 games.
Last season, Arthur appeared only 19 times and averaged 2.8 points in 7.4 minutes per game on .468/.348/2-for-3 shooting. Arthur nailed 45.3 percent of his 3-point attempts in 41 games in 2016-17.
Arthur is another former late first-round pick, going 27th overall to the then-New Orleans Hornets in 2008 from Kansas before his rights were traded first to the Trail Blazers and then to the Memphis Grizzlies on draft night.
Arthur missed all of the 2011-12 season with a ruptured Achilles, but came back to become a solid contributor as a reserve with the Nuggets, who acquired him in a trade from the Grizzlies on draft night in 2013.
Arthur exercised his 2018-19 option for $7.5 million on June 15.
Next: Nets 15 best draft picks of all-time
According to Wojnarowski, the Nets acquired the rights to 2016 second-round pick Isaia Cordinier from Atlanta, with the Hawks getting a 2025 second-round pick from Brooklyn and the right to swap picks in 2023.