3 core Nets players who could be playing final season in Brooklyn

1. Mikal Bridges

The Brooklyn Nets may have seriously screwed up at this year's trade deadline.

During the months leading up to the cutoff, reports had been suggesting that the front office's main goal was to surround centerpiece Mikal Bridges with more talent in an effort to help improve the team's chances of legitimately contending for a playoff spot.

As we now all know, the biggest grab the team made by February 8 was the trade that netted them veteran guard Dennis Schroder who, while a solid talent, is not someone that should be expected to prevent this ship from sinking.

In layman's terms, Brooklyn failed at accomplishing this task and, as a result, now has a chance to endure the rather likely outcome of missing out on the playoffs for the first time in six years.

All this added to the fact that Bridges has been on record discussing how disheartening it has been to play in front of a rather nonexistent home crowd throughout the year is not an ideal way for a presumed focal point's first full season to go.

With all this in mind, perhaps both he and the Nets may come to the unfortunate conclusion this offseason that it might be in each of their best interests to part ways and, with the reports being that teams have offered as many as four first-round picks to attain his services in a trade, Marks might be hard pressed to refuse at least pondering on the idea.

A tremendous young talent currently in the second season of a four-year, $90.9 million deal, Bridges finds himself posting impressive per-game averages of 21.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while shooting 45.4 percent from the floor and 37.2 percent from distance.

While the primary goal for the Nets should still be to search for a way to bolster the talent pool around the 27-year-old -- which is something that could be quite possible what with recent rumors surrounding star Trae Young --, should it wind up being between running it back with this same core or breaking it up from the top down, perhaps the more logical route could prove to be the latter.