Brooklyn Nets land 6x All-Star in recent trade proposal

Despite being on the outside looking in on a Play-In Tournament spot with an 11-seeded 19-28 record, there's a strong possibility that the Brooklyn Nets could still be gunning for their sixth consecutive postseason berth in 2023-24 and the upcoming trade deadline could prove to be a time for them to strengthen their odds of doing so.

From point guard upgrades to bolstered frontcourt depth there have been a bevy of names linked to the franchise as being possible trade targets ahead of the February 8 cut-off.

Of course, in the event that Brooklyn does wind up making some sort of splashy addition, the hope amongst the fanbase is that it would be for an established, high-end talent and, in a recent piece penned by Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley, the franchise is seen doing something of this ilk by acquiring perennial All-Star wing, DeMar DeRozan.

Nets trade idea lands All-Star forward, DeMar DeRozan

Citing their need for scoring help outside of the likes of Mikal Bridges, coupled with their reported desires to improve the talent around the aforementioned stud, Buckley believes that spicing things up with a trade for the veteran DeRozan could be in the range of possibilities for the Nets this season.

"The Nets may not seem like obvious buyers, but since they don't have control of their draft picks and do want to build around Mikal Bridges, they could be a candidate for a splashy deal. Their offense badly needs more off-the-dribble juice, and DeRozan could provide that while also perking up their playmaking and captaining their late-game offense, which hasn't been great (15th in clutch offensive efficiency)."

- Zach Buckley

A six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection, now in his 15 season in the association DeRozan is still producing like one of the best wings in the game.

A lethal mid-range and interior scorer as well as a highly underrated defensive contributor, the 34-year-old finds himself posting impressive per-game averages of 22.0 points, 5.3 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and just shy of a block through 47 outings all while shooting 46.7 percent from the floor.

Adding his talents would undoubtedly address the desire from this Nets front office to add better talent alongside Bridges, and would almost certainly improve their lackluster 10-worst scoring punch, but doing so while giving up a first-round pick might not be the best course of action.

Considering he's on an expiring contract, there's a strong possibility that, even if they did end up making this trade, DeRozan would opt to walk in free agency this coming summer, thus meaning Brooklyn would have shelled out highly valuable draft capital for a mere multi-month rental.

However, even if he did end up re-signing, how much better would the team be with a still productive, albeit aging talent who plays a position far too similar to that of their current cornerstone?

While the concept of adding an established star like DeRozan to this Nets team may be exciting on the surface, a deal like this is simply too risky for them to consider and, frankly, not likely to be enough to make them a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference moving forward.

Swap a few seconds in for the first and perhaps there's more to consider, but as it currently stands this proposed trade would be rather foolish for Sean Marks and co. to make a reality.