Nets: How could Brooklyn possibly afford Zach LaVine?
By Adam Weinrib
Why would the Nets still be monitoring Zach LaVine’s market after the James Harden trade?
The Brooklyn Nets have the type of “Big Three” that every NBA team coveted at the turn of the last decade — in fact, they likely have the most effective one ever assembled.
It feels these days, though, as if superstar duos are about to dominate the 2020s. Giannis Antetokounmpo stayed home in Milwaukee with Khris Middleton. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the only two superstars who can financially fit on the Lakers for the next several years. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Luka Doncic and the festering corpse of Kristaps Porzingis.
I could go on.
But what if the Nets have it in their heads that they could create a market inefficiency by shoving two duos onto the same roster? Some sort of duo pairing? The NBA’s first Big Quartet?
According to the same rumors we’ve heard for a half-year, Brooklyn is monitoring Bulls star Zach LaVine’s market, as are the New York Knicks. But we have to ask: why, though?
Now, LaVine is a legitimate All-Star, and should’ve had the honor bestowed upon him last season, when the game was in Chicago.
What was an educated opinion last year around this time has now become indisputable fact.
But the Nets emptied their coffers for James Harden — and we truly mean emptied. That decision has already been made, and it appears to have been an exceptional one. Thanks to legendarily inept Cavaliers GM Ted Stepien, first-round draft selections in back-to-back years cannot be traded. Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert are gone. Taurean Prince? Unless you can convince the Cavs to trade him, he’s off the table.
Other than Kyrie Irving, what’s left for the Nets to give?
Zach LaVine makes All-Star plays every single night.
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 29, 2021
Just watch the tape #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/FN0aZh2rD6
So, monitor the market all you want, Brooklyn, but we can’t mathematically deduce how or why you’d attempt to make this work.
“Spiting the Knicks” isn’t a good enough reason to borrow drafts picks on loan and call up Chicago.
New York finally has something good and young brewing, anyway. If anything, a blockbuster deal for a volume scorer and non-winning player like LaVine could help us more than them in the long run.
Just wait it out, Mr. Marks.
