The Brooklyn Nets were 17 games under .500 at 16-33 when they hosted the Houston Rockets at the Barclays Center on Tuesday. They were tied with the Toronto Raptors for the third worst record in the Eastern Conference and were 13th in the East standings with only the Charlotte Hornets (12-35) and Washington Wizards (8-41) — whom they hosted last night at the Barclays — below them when the league’s slate of games tipped off.
The Nets are indisputably rebuilding. They are what a ground up project looks like. It began when team owner Joseph Tsai and general manager Sean Marks hired Jordi Fernandez as their new head coach last April and then traded their best player in , forward Mikal Bridges, to the Knicks to acquire five first round draft picks. Then, in December, the Nets dealt their former starting point guard, Dennis Schröder, to the Golden State Warriors and forward Dorian Finney-Smith to the Los Angeles Lakers. Both have played extensive minutes for their new teams.
So with the NBA trade deadline today at 3:00 p.m., what more moves can the Nets make that would position them better to construct a future playoff team and the larger goal of becoming a championship contender? The three most likely Nets players on the market are also players that are dealing with injuries: Cam Johnson, Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas.
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Johnson, the most valuable asset of the trio, was averaging a career-high 19.4 points per game and shooting over 49% for the season when he sat out Tuesday’s game. Johnson could return the Nets more draft picks and a young rotation player in a deal. The 6-8, 28 year old has been out with a right ankle sprain since January 21 and had missed 14 of the team’s 49 games as of Tuesday’s Rockets matchup.
Point-forward Ben Simmons’ expiring contract is appealing for teams that want to clear cap space. The 28-year-old three-time NBA All-Star had been sidelined 18 games this season after sitting out Tuesday with a lower back issue. Nets shooting guard Cam Thomas, 23, is a young dynamic scorer who can be a key piece coming off of the bench for a playoff contender but has played in only 19 games this season and is still nursing a left hamstring strain. In the time that he has been on the court, Thomas is averaging 24.7 points per game.
The Nets are likely still several years out from becoming a team in the upper tier of the league. It’s doubtful they will use the same concept of trying to microwave a contender the way they did with signing superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and then trading for James Harden — a plan that famously failed.
Taking the approach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs — all with bright futures — and focusing on drafting and/or trading for young talent and making them the core of the team, and then rounding out the roster through free-agency, is how the Nets will move forward.