NetsDaily Off-Season Report - No. 20
We’ll be updating the Nets’ off-season weekly, with bits and pieces of information, gossip, and everything in between to help fans get ready for ... anything. List No. 1
Was it the greatest gathering of celebrities ever for a pro basketball game in New York ... ever? No, we’re not talking about something that took place years ago at some Knicks game at Madison Square Garden where celebrity row has been a New York fixture. Nope. It was last Sunday and it was the Liberty who drew the star-studded cast to Barclays Center.
Here’s the list for the game that the Libs won 74-71 over the Las Vegas Aces. The cast was as diverse as it was star-studded.
The NBA’s Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, Amen & Ausar Thompson, Kevin Looney and Derrick Lively II;
Basketball Hall of Famer Dawn Staley;
UConn’s Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers;
A Paris Olympic contingent: gymnast Jordan Chiles, boxer Claressa Shields, hurdler Rai Benjamin, high jumper Vashti Cunningham, sprinters Tee Tee Terry and Melissa Jefferson, fencer Miles Chamley-Watson, tennis player Zheng Shuai and paralympic long jumper Scout Basett.
As well as TV host Tamron Hall, comedian Chloe Fineman from SNL, actress Sandra Bernhard, singer St. Vincent, fitness instructor and sports reporter Jess Sims, a few Nets assistant coaches and of course, the billionaire owners, Joe & Clara Tsai.
Just a regular night at The Clays https://t.co/9sWCeodyfd— Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) September 9, 2024
There may even be others, but the 24 we counted seems good enough.
How’d the Liberty gather so many stars in one place for a WNBA game on a Sunday afternoon? They’re not saying. (We asked.) It would appear that a number of those in the stands at Barclays had previously been at the U.S. Open in Forest Hills earlier in the afternoon for the Mens’ Final.
How’d the Libs get from Queens to Brooklyn? No one is saying but the Liberty is a hot New York ticket in the city and the Nets marketing is both very aggressive and competitive.
List No. 2: Hail, hail the gang’s (almost) all here.
Training camps don’t begin officially until the end of the month with Media Day two weeks from Monday and first practice the next day. But the leaguer permits players to work out and even scrimmage at the team training camp in the weeks before. Although there’s no official list of who’s at HSS Training Center, there’s photographic evidence posted on the Nets official site as well as Weibo the big Chinese social media platform and individual players’ social media accounts. Here’s a sampling...
Focused pic.twitter.com/h6oeDsdt3e— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) September 14, 2024
pic.twitter.com/ibGKwYadsW— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) September 14, 2024
locked in pic.twitter.com/Ixp2WP69Qu— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) September 13, 2024
pic.twitter.com/7uflIddqzF— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) September 13, 2024
.@Ziaire in the lab pic.twitter.com/19ddR2JfkM— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) August 16, 2024
Killian Hayes in the lab pic.twitter.com/Nopmz3R9th— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) September 2, 2024
In fact, it’s probably better to note who we haven’t seen yet on the Internet. That would include Bojan Bogdanovic, Dennis Schroder and assuming rumors are true, Yongxi “Jacky” Cui, the Chinese two-way. It would make sense that the international contingent would show up after the Americans. Nets fans of course are interested in how Bogdanovic in particular is doing. He underwent surgery on both his foot and wrist back in April and was supposed to be ready for training camp. Last weekend, however, he was in Zagreb, Croatia, for the Drazen Petrovic 60th Birthday charity game but didn’t play. If there was an explanation, we haven’t seen it yet.
This is also that time of the summer when you hear that some player or another is surprising his teammates with his shooting, playmaking, defense, work ethic, etc ... fewer stories though on who may have shown in not the best of shape. Harden-like, you might say.
Sam Quinn’s list
Every year, Sam Quinn of CBS Sports ranks all traded first round drafts across the league by a number of standards, protections, point of origin, the year of conveyance and is it a swap? All of those things indeed are measurements NBA GMs use in determining value in trades for superstars. stars and lesser lights.
He notes that there are 68 picks (and two others that returned home — more on that later) that were traded this off-season, a record. As Quinn notes, things can change, pointing to the high value he assigned last year to the 2019 Dallas Maverick pick the Nets got in the Kyrie Irving trade. Irving’s mercurial personality was a big risk and so the pick was ranked third. Now, it’s dropped to No. 26.
So for the moment, here’s how Quinn ranks all the picks the first round picks Nets control from other teams. They have their own picks of course as well. Quinn doesn’t rank them (but Eric Pincus did last year.)
59. Houston Rockets, 2029. The least favorable of the following 2026 first-round picks: Mavericks, Suns and Rockets, acquired in the Nets-Rockets trade that also was disclosed on November 25.
54. Phoenix Suns, 2025. One of the picks acquired in the Kevin Durant trade. Previously unprotected, it can became a pick swap in the Rockets-Nets trade.
51. New York Knicks, 2025. From the Mikal Bridges trade, unprotected but Quinn thinks the Knicks could be on the verge of some long-term success, that it “would probably take injuries or unforeseen decline for the Knicks to send a great pick to Brooklyn here.”
45. New York Knicks, 2028. Yet another product of the Mikal Bridges trade. Jalen Brunson will be under contract in New York, yes, but everyone is getting older and so Quinn thinks this pick has better value than the one three years earlier because of that.
40. Philadelphia 76ers, 2027. Top-8 protected. Part of the Ben Simmons for James Harden trade, this pick can be rolled over under some circumstances, including the swap, to 2028. It might be a better bet. Why? Another case of aging stars like Paul George (36 then) and Joel Embiid (32). Could get late lottery?
36. New York Knicks, 2027. Still one more from the Mikal Bridges trade ... and we’re not done yet. Quinn simply doesn’t trust the Knicks ownership to continue their run of competence and good fortune.
26. Dallas Mavericks, 2029. As noted earlier, the CBS writer thinks this pick has dropped in value dramatically because the Mavs’ championship run, Kyrie Irving’s stability, Klay Thompson’s addition, Derrick Lively II’s growth and the good fortune of drafting, developing and re-signing Luka Doncic.
20. New York Knicks, 2029. Done with the Mikal Bridges trade?? Nope! The Curse of Dolan again, suggests quinn. And it’s long way out there.
16. New York Knicks, 2031. The end of the Mikhail Bridges haul and the Quinn is doubling down on the Dolan. He suggests logic would suggest that the Minnesota Timberwolves could also be on a downward trajectory, “It’s just a bit easier to believe the Timberwolves are winning with players they currently have in 2031. Brunson will be 35 in 2031.”
10. Phoenix Suns, 2028. Next to last takeaway from the Kevin Durant trade. Who knows how things will work out? Quinn will hazard a guess. He thinks the KD firsts in 2027 and 2028 remain among the most valuable. He believes the aging cast in the Valley of the Sun is one reason, particularly Beal, and Mat Ishbia has a very small window after he’ll have to rebuild.
2. Phoenix Suns, 2029. Just as it was last year, one of the best two traded picks in the league and the last piece of the Durant trade. BUT this can be swapped with the Rockets for the June trade of picks with the Rockets.
Going the other sway, Quinn thinks the 2027 first round pick of the Nets, owned by the Rockets as a result of the pick swap, is one of the most valuable as well.
6. Brooklyn Nets, 2027. Brooklyn retains the least favorable of Dallas, Houston and Phoenix’s first round draft picks in 2029.
Quinn did not rank the teams (or GMs) by cumulative numbers but Bobby Marks has which we reported on. He has the Nets third in the league in overall value behind the perennial pick maven Sam Presti of the Thunder, at No. 2, and Sean Marks mentors, Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford, at the top of the list. Good company along with being the fifth most tenured top exec.
Still not done after ranking 68 picks, Quinn provides a lengthy tutorial on the Nets-Rockets pick we kept referring too. Officially, it went down this way:
BROOKLYN – The Brooklyn Nets have acquired their 2025 first round draft pick, negating a previously agreed to swap, and their first round pick in 2026, from the Houston Rockets in exchange for a 2025 first round pick swap (Houston/Oklahoma City for Phoenix), the Phoenix Suns’ 2027 first round pick and a the rights to the two most favorable of the Dallas, Phoenix and Houston first round picks in 2029. Brooklyn retains the least favorable of Dallas, Houston and Phoenix’s first round draft picks in 2029.
Post that to your refrigerator! (Might have to make room for the beer.)
Quinn takes a balanced look noting the Nets shorter-range desires had required them to give the Rockets longer term, but perhaps better assets. It’ an interesting read, particularly for us nerds. He notes that he counts only 68 firsts in his ranking, but offers a footnote. The Nets got two traded picks of a more recent vintage — an end to the Rockets swap rights on their 2025 first and their own 2026 pick back, giving up long term assets. He explains.
——-
There are two picks we intentionally left off of the list because, while they were traded, they were traded back to their original team. Those picks belong to the 2025 and 2026 Brooklyn Nets. However, we should still cover them because they represent a few important philosophical developments within the league.
For the right to get those choices back, the Nets essentially traded four picks: No. 53, No. 26, No. 5 and No. 2 on this list. That is obviously an extremely steep price. Where would those two Nets picks have ranked had they not been traded? Well, it’s hard to say. They told the world that they only made the Mikal Bridges trade because this Rockets trade was on the table. That suggests that they would have kept trying, even if fruitlessly, to win had they not had a path to getting their own picks back.
This is where it becomes a matter of opinion. Personally, I don’t believe that reporting on Brooklyn’s plans. That isn’t a comment on the veracity of the reporters. It’s just NBA PR 101. It looks better for the Nets to say “we only made this controversial trade with our crosstown rival because of a golden opportunity another team presented us with” than it does to say “we had no immediate path to winning and had to trade our best player while we still could.” It was credibly reported that Bridges not only asked for a trade, but demanded to go to the Knicks specifically. That suggests he would have made things uncomfortable had the Nets kept him. Even if he hadn’t, it would have frankly been irresponsible of the Nets not to make this trade considering where they were. They turned a non-All-Star into five unprotected Knicks picks. That’s not a trade offer so much as a bailout. The Nets were going nowhere. The Knicks offered salvation. I don’t believe they would have turned that down with or without the Houston trade on the table.
That was my opinion, and it’s why I gave the Rockets a poor grade for the trade itself. Under those conditions, I would have ranked these two Nets picks at the top of this list (though in hindsight, I’d probably grade the Rockets a bit more favorably). The Nets are going to be one of the four or five worst teams in the NBA over the next two seasons. Getting those unprotected picks would be a potential Brown-and-Tatum level boon. I also recognize that my opinion defies the widespread reporting. It’s also worth noting that I’m publishing this list in September, when we have a far better idea of what teams will look like than we do in June, when this reporting came out. (Emphasis added.)
Houston might have blinked at Brooklyn’s threat of keeping Bridges, and they surely liked the idea of turning two draft assets into four, but there was another important reason they chose to make this trade. As was reported when the trade was made, the Rockets are interested in trading for either Kevin Durant or Devin Booker at some point in the near future. Owning Phoenix’s draft picks gives them an undeniable leg up.
So when will we know who run the big trades Brooklyn made between February 2023 and June of 2024. First of all, it is by this point hard to disentangle the two Durant and Harden trades by this point. The other reason is that the last assets for Harden trade expire in 2028, the KD and Kyrie deals in 2029 and the Bridges deal in 2031. If by then, the Nets will continue to be mediocre then the whole painful three years will be a bust.
Also we have our own footnote that doesn’t have to do with first round picks. The Nets got back their 2025 second in the Mikal Bridges trade. The pick had moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta (for Jeremy Lin) to New York (for Kevin Knox) since the Lin trade in 2018. The Nets gave back a 2026 second, least favorable of Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons picks. That 2025 second is certainly valuable. It could wind up like the 2019 Knicks second the Nets got from the 76ers along with Jahlil Okafor and Nik Staukas two years earlier. It became Nic Claxton.
And a footnote as well on salary cap, etc. Keith Smith notes this week in a tweet that Nets are $5.2 million short of being hard capped at the first apron limiting them a bit. So don’t expect anything that will risk those sanction. (Why? because the Mikal trade trade required them to do a sign-and-trade for Shake Milton — three year vets minimum, but only one guaranteed — and as everyone notes, the price tag remains high for a Cam Johnson or Dorian Finney-Smith making a trade before deadline unlikely. This just adds to the limitations.)
MORE DRAFT NEWS, PLEASE, KIND SIR.
Final Note
Unlike the WNBA, the NBA’s teams didn’t have to fight for flight. They’ve long had the best of the best charters and this week the NBA posted a look at what they’ll look like when put into place in 2025-26, the very latest from Airbus....
The NBA is getting a fleet of VIP Airbus A321neo.The 13 custom built aircraft will transport teams between games and include:-lay flat seats-humidifiers-jet-lag reducing lighting.The 13 aircraft will be able to successfully transport all 30 teams. pic.twitter.com/uc6nTCsQ7W— Preston Holland ️ (@prestonholland6) September 13, 2024
Take a look inside, everything for wide seats to offices to dinning areas. Can Sean Marks make a trade from that desk without static that’s so bad he won’t hear, “and three first round draft picks.”
Although the press release says the NBA’s 30 teams will use the fleet, Holland, editor of a private aviation newsletter, says he can’t see the two teams with charters of their own — the Rocket and the Mavericks — giving them us. Each of the new planes will be custom fit and include all the amenities. The A321, when in high-density ,commercial configuration, can fit up to 244 total passengers So room to stretch for players, coaches, staff, per Simple Flying. maybe occasional family members too on some planes.
All the WNBA players wanted was wider seats! Ultimately, they got charters after being shamed by Joe and Clara Wu Tsai.. As good as these new birds? Nope. G League teams use three types of planes for its charters — VIP, Delta mainline and regional jets.
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