Saving the Brooklyn Nets

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The Brooklyn Nets are finally looking to fix their major roster issues. They lead the NBA in total player salary with over one hundred million dollars worth of contracts. The worst part, they aren’t a good team. If your paying that much, you should be at the least a fourth seed in the East. But the Nets might not even make the playoffs.

There is a solution, and it’s called blowing it up. The three main trade pieces they have are obviously Brook Lopez, Deron Williams, and Joe Johnson. I’m going to break down some options for them to dump some big salaries and gain some assets for the future.

Brook Lopez for a first round pick – Lopez is one of the best scoring big men in basketball and has some trade value. But, that doesn’t mean you need to hit a homerun with this deal. If they could land either a mid-first rounder or a late first and a second for Brook, it would be a succesful trade. The Nets traded away most of their draft picks, so replenishing it and getting their name on the draft board should be their number one objective. Plus, with Mason Plumlee taking over at starting center, Lopez needs a new start somewhere away from Brooklyn. Some possible suitors could be Miami or Oklahoma City. OKC already had a close deal with Brooklyn for Lopez just a short while ago, but apparently fell through the cracks.

Deron Williams to the Kings – The Kings need a good point guard to help set the table for Demarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay. And though Darren Collison has done alright, I just don’t see him as Sac Town’s long term option. So who would Brooklyn get in return for D-Will? That’s the part I’m not quite sure about, but I’m almost sure Nik Stauskus could be a part of that deal. Stauskus could really blossom in Brooklyn more than Sacremento with Ben Mclemore turning into the player we all thought he would be. But, as nice as it would be to see Williams putting in work in California’s capital team, I expect him to stay in New York for rest of the season.

Joe Johnson is the tough one. See, he averages just over fifteen points per game and he is one of the most clutch players in the league. All good, right? Well, fifteen a game and clutch shooting doesn’t justify his huge contract. Johnson is making $23 million dollars this year, yeah, that’s incredibly high. Which makes it seriously hard for the Nets to trade him, because no team wants to pay that. That is superstar money for a declining All-Star caliber player that is certainly not the player he once was. I don’t see that Brooklyn could find a trade partner to unload Johnson’s contract, so expect him to ride out his contract right where he is.
So, truthfully only one of the three Brooklyn big salaries will be traded, and that’s Brook Lopez. But, if there is anyway possible to get rid of all three contracts and get some young talent plus some much needed draft picks, then they could start the rebuild now instead of waiting for the big contracts to expire. It is certainly something to keep your eyes on this season.