Although the Brooklyn Nets remain a team already well-equipped to compete for a championship next year, their first-round draft pick remains an intriguing factor with high upside if handled correctly.
Although the Brooklyn Nets at long last broke free from their self imposed “first-round NBA Draft” chains, formerly linked together and locked down by the Boston Celtics during a torturous four-year stretch, the Nets once more find themselves without control over their first-round pick during this year’s draft. Upon making the playoffs, Brooklyn’s pick transferred over to the Atlanta Hawks, closing the book on the deal which landed them Taurean Prince last offseason.
Instead, the Nets own Philadelphia’s first-round pick, formerly owned by the Clippers before it was exchanged to Brooklyn for their second-rounder during the 2019 draft. Now primed to select at 19th overall come draft night, several options lie before Sean Marks and recently-hired head coach Steve Nash.
Obviously, drafting a young prospect remains the most direct option for Brooklyn, and with recent mid-to-late first-rounders such as Kyle Kuzma, Kevin Huerter, and Pascal Siakam having already made names for themselves as solid NBA players, that route glistens with potential excitement and reward. On the other hand, though, Brooklyn’s offseason compass points oppositely than that of most other teams this year, ready to embrace the “win now” mentality ahead Kevin Durant’s return to play. As it has with teams such as the 2012 Miami Heat, as well as today’s Los Angeles Lakers, this mindset might push the Nets into trade talks involving the pick, potentially also including additional assets alongside it as well.
But even within these two potential directions at hand, more alternative routes branch off from them as well, leaving most around the NBA still pondering Brooklyn’s plans and motives with no logical assumption visible. Still looking to provide an adequate forecast despite the team’s blanketed intentions regarding the 19th overall pick, these five moves seem the most probable.