After ending up in last place in the Eastern Conference and not having their first-round pick, the Brooklyn Nets figured that they had to make gutsy trades to acquire some young talent. Seemingly, they became the home of large, unneeded contracts this offseason.
Becoming the home of salary dumps
To begin the offseason, they made a key trade with the Los Angeles Lakers, sending Brook Lopez and the 27th overall pick in the draft for D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov. While Mozgov’s contract of $16 million annually is overwhelming, the Nets sacrificed cap space to attain a young, talented point guard with plenty of potential in Russell.
Another trade the Nets completed was for Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll. Carroll has two years, and $30.2 million remaining on his contract and was traded to Brooklyn for Justin Hamilton. The Nets also acquired a first-round and second-round pick from Toronto for taking on Carroll’s huge contract. Ultimately, the picks were the most important part of the deal.
Lastly, the Nets acquired Allen Crabbe from the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Andrew Nicholson, who was later waived. Crabbe was one of Brooklyn’s offseason targets last summer. In fact, the contract that Crabbe currently possesses is the offer Brooklyn made for him during last year’s free agency that the Blazers matched.
Although Crabbe has three years and $56.3 million remaining on his contract with a player option in the final year, he is only 25 years old, and the Nets have always seen an upside to him.
Crabbe struggled last season with Portland, but the Nets believe that they can get the most out of him.
The 2017 NBA draft
Through the draft, the Nets took Jarrett Allen with the 22nd overall pick, which they received from the Washington Wizards in the Bojan Bogdanovic trade at the deadline last season. Allen is likely to play backup to newly-acquired Timofey Mozgov.
The Nets constructed their roster only through trades this offseason. They did not make any free-agent signings, although they did try to snatch Otto Porter Jr. away from the Wizards by offering him a four-year, $106 million deal, which Washington chose to match.
Through trades, the Nets acquired a couple of Draft Picks and young talent, which is what they were aiming for since they are still suffering from the consequences of trading too much for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce back in the day.
As a result, they also had to take on a couple of bad contracts.
Roster outlook
- PG: D’Angelo Russell/Jeremy Lin/Isaiah Whitehead/Spencer Dinwiddie
- SG: Sean Kilpatrick/Caris LeVert/Yakuba Outtara
- SF: DeMarre Carroll/Allen Crabbe/Joe Harris
- PF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson/Trevor Booker/Quincy Acy
- C: Timofey Mozgov/Jarrett Allen
- Coach: Kenny Atkinson
Offseason Grade: B-
