Brooklyn Nets acquire Jared Dudley, add shooting, veteran presence

The Brooklyn Nets have acquired forward Jared Dudley and a protected 2021 2nd-round pick from the Phoenix Suns, sending out Darrell Arthur.

The Brooklyn Nets have swung another offseason trade, announcing Friday they have traded recently acquired forward Darrell Arthur to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for forward Jared Dudley and a protected second-round pick in 2021.

The Nets announced the trade Friday afternoon, a few hours after news of the deal first broke.

The Nets take on some extra salary in the deal. Dudley is owed $9.5 million in the final year of his contract.

Phoenix is likely to buy out Arthur’s $7.4 million deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Brooklyn agreed to trade w/ Phoenix to acquire Jared Dudley and 2021 second-round pick for Darrell Arthur, league sources tell ESPN. Arthur ($7.4M) headed for buyout; Dudley ($9.5M) will have that conversation with Nets. Suns save some salary, Nets get a pick protected to No. 35.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 20, 2018

While Wojnarowski said the Nets would discuss a buyout of Dudley, the forward told Scott Bordow of azcentral.com that as of Friday morning, he had been told by Brooklyn that he will be part of the roster.

"I’m excited about going out and showing I can still play. I’m looking to bounce back. People will see I’m the healthiest and in the best shape I’ve been in for years.I still have some basketball years left in me. That’s why this isn’t hard for me. I love Phoenix, I love Devin Booker and Robert Sarver and what the organization did for me, but there was zeo change I was going to get to play. I was going to get 65 to 70 DNPs."

Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports indicated that Brooklyn wants to use the 11-year veteran as a stretch 4, with hopes that the weight concerns he has last season with the Suns are in the past.

Jared Dudley had his struggles with the #Nets - specifically with some weight concerns - but I'm told Brooklyn would like to deploy him as a stretch four (Dudley is a career 39.6 3-point shooter). In other words, a buyout feels unlikely.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 20, 2018

Dudley played a career-low 48 games and put up the lowest numbers of his career across the board, 3.2 points and 2.0 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game while shooting .393/.363/.771.

Dudley is, however, a career 39.6 percent shooter from 3-point land and at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds has transitioned from a swingman on the wing to a stretch-4 role over the past three seasons, two with Phoenix and 2015-16 with the Washington Wizards.

Brooklyn will be the sixth stop for Dudley in his career. Drafted 22nd overall by the then-Charlotte Bobcats in the 2007 NBA Draft, Dudley was part of a five-player trade in December 2008 that sent Boris Diaw to Charlotte.

He spent four-plus seasons with the Suns before being dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a complicated three-team sign-and-trade in July 2013 that started with the Milwaukee Bucks signing and dealing free agent J.J. Redick to the Clippers.

After a year in L.A., Dudley was dealt to the Bucks in August 2014 and was traded to Washington in July 2015.

He re-joined the Suns as an unrestricted free agent in July 2016, signing a front-loaded three-year deal that had salaries sliding downward from $10.5 million in the first year to $9.5 in the third.

Dudley turned 33 on July 10 and has a reputation as a knock-down shooter from deep and as a solid veteran presence in the locker room.

He’s also gotten a fairly large following on social media for his sense of humor as much as anything.

https://twitter.com/JaredDudley619/status/1020314900462153728

The trade didn’t catch Dudley off-guard, as the Suns had approached him about a possible buyout. Dudley said he “wasn’t interested.”

He did say leaving Phoenix is “bittersweet,” however. He’s played more than half of his career for the Suns and plans to retire in the Valley of the Sun.

Dudley is also flexible enough to slide out to the 3 on occasions, depending on matchups, and spreads the floor — over the past five seasons, he’s attempted more 3-pointers (938) than shots inside the arc (887).

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Per basketball-reference, he’s played 91 percent of his minutes the last three seasons at the 4, with 5 percent logged at the 3 and 4 percent as a small-ball 5.

For all of his experience, Dudley has only appeared in the NBA Playoffs three times, with the Suns the last time they qualified in 2010 and went to the Western Conference Finals, with the Clippers in 2014 and with Milwaukee in 2015.

Dudley has twice placed in the top 10 in the NBA in 3-point shooting, hitting 45.8 percent and placing fourth in 2009-10 with Phoenix and ranking seventh with the Wizards in 2015-16 while hitting 42 percent from deep.

Arthur had been acquired by Brooklyn on July 12 as part of a deal with the Denver Nuggets that sent Isaiah Whitehead to the Mile High City in exchange for Arthur, Kenneth Faried a top-12 protected 2019 first-round pick and a 2020 second-rounder.

Arthur was limited to just 19 games last season because of problems with his left knee.

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The pick coming from Phoenix in 2021 is protected through No. 35 overall (top five picks in the second round).