Is It Time for the Brooklyn Nets to Blow It Up? | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Tim Heitman/Getty Images

The Brooklyn Nets have had a turbulent 2022.

After trading James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons in February, there was a trade request from Kevin Durant in late June, and most recently with coach Steve Nash. Kyrie Irving suspended— It was quite the downward spiral for a team that was just Durant’s toes away from qualifying for the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals.

Can the franchise course be fixed, or is it time to start removing parts from the roster for a substantial restructuring?

About KD

Durant, now 34 years old after a torn Achilles tendon, remains one of the best players in the NBA. He has averaged 31 points per game in his 11 games this season with a 51.8% field goal percentage. He remains a generational scorer and the Nets’ most important player.

Durant is under contract for three more seasons (until 2025-26), so why would Brooklyn consider letting him go in a trade?

Maybe not. period.

However, Durant is reportedly trying to force a trade during the offseason, pushing for the dismissal of general managers Sean Marks and Nash. Shams Charania athletic. Durant eventually relented, and Nash’s exit became more organic.

But the Nets (4-7) could be gearing up for a second round if their losses continue to mount. Durant wants to win and if he doesn’t believe it will happen in Brooklyn, he may try to force the transfer again. I remain skeptical of his influence until near the end of .

The number of teams that need Durant easily matches his $44.1 million annual salary and is far larger than a franchise list with enough young stars, prospects and drafts to appease the Nets. Will the Boston Celtics offer Jaylen Brown? Will the Toronto Raptors be willing to talk about Scotty Barnes?

How keen would Brooklyn be to send Durant to the rival New York Knicks, even if New York included some of their many draft picks? Will the Miami Heat be willing to go back to Durant, offering a solid prospect? Can the Miami Heat get a viable offer that doesn’t include Bam Adebayo?

There is also a point where the Nets may find themselves at a dead end in their current core and it is time to start fresh. I have.

But for now, the franchise will keep its course while it searches for a replacement for interim head coach Jack Vaughan.

coach hires indicator

If the Nets hire Ime Udoka (he’s reportedly the favorite. h/t Carania), not overseeing a rebuilding team. After leading the Boston Celtics to his NBA Finals as a rookie and a long stint as an assistant in the league, Udoka is a highly regarded coach.

Beyond coaching, Udoka’s reputation hit the Celtics for violating team policies that included “profanity in conversations with female subordinates prior to the initiation of an inappropriate work relationship with a woman,” according to ESPN. I was hit after being suspended from. Adrian Wojnarowski.

To revitalize the 2022-23 season and keep Durant investing in Brooklyn, it makes sense for the Nets to hire the best coach available. However, given Udoka’s behavior in Boston, it’s also extremely ignorant.

Irving, in particular, said that heProductiveAccording to Charania, he will meet with Silver on Tuesday to help Brooklyn return to playoff form.

“There’s growing pessimism in various corners of the league that Kyrie will be playing for the Nets again,” Stein said.

Whatever the outcome, if Irving’s $36.9 million falls off the ledger following the current campaign, Brooklyn has no plans to secure cap space in July. The team is most likely to have an intermediate level exception for non-taxpayers, projected to start at $11.4 million.

Significant improvements on Durant may need to come via trades by the Feb. 10 deadline or after the season around the draft and free agency.

Is there a market for Irving? It’s unclear, but the initial queries in NBA circles were very pessimistic.

“He’s toxic now,” said one executive.

The Los Angeles Lakers had offered a move to the Nets earlier in the summer, but Brooklyn wasn’t keen on Irving at the time. Now it seems too late.

Problematic draft pick

The bigger issue is that the franchise still owes Harden’s Houston Rockets a few first-round picks if the Nets decide it’s time to let Durant go and rebuild.

If Victor Wenbayama is a runaway No. 1 pick in 2023, Houston will have swap rights with the Nets. Even with Brooklyn getting the top selection and the Rockets coming in second for him, the Nets haven’t won Bunbanyama.

Houston, at least, is one of the worst teams in the league. A swap might not be terrible, except for losing a shot at a potential franchise pillar, and G League Ignite player Scoot Henderson is a tremendous alimony.

The Rockets also have swap rights for 2025 and 2027. Houston will get the Nets first-round picks in 2024 and 2026 outright. A lack of draft currency may be all the motivation Brooklyn needs to avoid a rebuild.

But it’s the same Nets that Marks managed in 2016, years after the Celtics traded the likes of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in 2013. That deal devastated the Nets, but Marks showed impressive skill in turning them into a “nothing” playoff team by 2018-19.

That upstart team lost five games to the Sixers in the 2019 playoffs, winning one more game than two of the Durant/Irving era’s three postseason runs in the process (to be fair). , Durant was still recovering from his Achilles injury until 2019.20).

simmons and the rest

The Nets are not without talent. The team has some solid veterans like Royce O’Neill, Joe Harris and Seth Curry (returning from an ankle injury). Young prospects like Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas are growing well.

The elephant in the room is Ben Simmons, whom the Nets acquired from the 76ers in exchange for Harden.

“Simmons doesn’t have a lot of trading value right now,” said one executive. “He wasn’t healthy. Even if he was healthy, he didn’t look very good. He certainly didn’t get what he paid for.”

Simmons owes $78.2 million over two more seasons, so a move could be tough. If the Nets decide to trade Durant, they should try to handcuff Simmons as a requirement.

The Nets probably want to get out of Irving’s salary, but given his contract expires after the season, that should be a low priority. , with Irving leaving in July, the franchise could have considerable financial flexibility.

The list of teams that can receive that kind of money is short (Durant and Simmons together make $79.5 million this season), but the Lakers theoretically offer Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn. You can get there by Will LA include first-round picks for 2027 and 2029 to make it easier for blockbusters like that to save the season?

All three of those Lakers’ contracts are expiring, leaving Nets cap space between $71 million and $81 million next summer, depending on which player the team chooses to keep (Westbrook, O’Neill, etc.) There is a possibility.

Do you want to continue or start over?

Will the Nets have the means to provide a good enough supporting cast for Durant to truly compete? Will he be happy if Irving doesn’t return from suspension?

The Nets may not find the kind of return the Utah Jazz got from Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell (a bunch of first-round picks). Non-Knicks teams have the first chest they can offer.

Still, Brooklyn might be able to replenish some of what it owes Houston, but it could also add some young high-quality prospects and perhaps ditch Simmons in the process.

Hiring coaching is important, especially if the Nets bring in Udoka. Second, trades may be aimed at winning rather than rebuilding.

With a roster intact, healthy and enthusiastic, perhaps Udoka can turn this team into a playoff force in the East. , remains suspended in the air.

As long as Durant believes in what the team is doing, Brooklyn may try to keep going, but Durant’s return to summer stance in search of a new home doesn’t seem like a leap.

Email Eric Pincus to eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. @Eric Pincus.