The Nets are still open for business.
Two weeks after trading point guard Dennis Schröder to the Golden State Warriors on December 15, the Brooklyn Nets dealt forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton to the Los Angeles Lakers for guard D’Angelo Russell; forward Maxwell Lewis; and second-round picks in 2027, 2030, and 2031. The 28-year-old Russell is back with the Nets after playing 129 games for them from 2017–2019, making the only All-Star Game of his career in 2019 before being traded in July of 2019 to the Warriors as part of the sign-and-trade agreement that made Kevin Durant a Net.
The Nets are expected to make more moves before next month’s NBA trade deadline. They are stockpiling draft capital with their focus on constructing a roster that will be a future playoff contender with homegrown talent and veteran additions, similar to the plan the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Houston Rockets have followed to become championship caliber or rising to that level, as are the Rockets.
Heading into last night’s game versus the Detroit Pistons at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Nets had a record of 13-23 — 12th in the Eastern Conference, and were 3-10 in their previous 13 games. Since trading Schröder, head coach Jordi Fernandez’s crew was 3-8 before facing Detroit, including back-to-back home losses to the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers.
“This particular trade gives us what we need in the long term,” said Nets general manager Sean Marks regarding parting with Finney-Smith. “We’ve talked about building long-term sustainable success, and that’s what we want to get to and how we’re going to do that is going to be through future draft picks and draft assets that we get.”
Marks also noted the picks can be used in multiple ways. “The ones we get from the Lakers aren’t for several years, so this shows us that we’ve got plenty of flexibility in moving the draft picks, or we can hold onto them and see how these teams will go and where the picks may fall at the time of the draft.”
As the Nets rebuild, they have 31 draft picks over the next seven years: 15 in the first round and 16 second-rounders. Guard Cam Thomas and forward Cam Johnson, the Nets’ two leading scorers, are attractive players to many teams and will be under consideration as the Nets continue to explore the market.
Thomas returned to the lineup on December 29 after missing 13 straight games with a left hamstring strain. He re-injured it last Thursday after playing just two games in a 113-110 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks and is sidelined again. He will be reevaluated after the team’s upcoming five-game Western Conference road trip, which begins tomorrow versus the Denver Nuggets and concludes on January 19 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Nets will also face the Utah Jazz on Sunday, the Portland Trailblazers next Tuesday, the L.A. Clippers next Wednesday, and the L.A. Lakers on January 17.