Imagining A Nets Alternate Universe
It was depressing enough watching the Nets go through the slog of a miserable season. Those games bore little resemblance to what basketball fans have been viewing since the playoffs commenced. The defensive intensity and physicality, the shotmaking, etc. all are at levels well above and beyond the capabilities of those who donned a Brooklyn uniform in Game 82.
As a gratuitous gut punch, certain players Brooklyn surrendered in the name of tanking for better odds at next month’s 2025 NBA Lottery are contributing to their new teams in the playoffs. Dennis Schroder, Dorian Finney-Smith, and, yes, Mikal Bridges may not be “stars” that are the backbone of a championship team, but they are proven performers as complementary pieces.
The Nets, as we all know, have pursued a teardown, stripping the talent, with a few exceptions, to a bare bones outfit. It’s done. The rebuild’s length, though, is dependent on a vast array of factors, many of which are beyond the franchise’s control.
General Manager Sean Marks is steering the Nets’ ship without a map. The team’s flexibility means it has the wherewithal to pivot off onto another course at any moment environmental circumstances change. Like, say, if a superstar becomes available. For now, it seems Marks will stick with the slow and steady path a la Oklahoma City, using his ample cache of first round picks to take shot after shot on young players, some of whom may develop into leading men. We’ll know if it worked in about three-to-five years.
Or maybe he is lying in wait to flip the picks he obtained in the Kevin Durant and Bridges trades, along with Brooklyn’s own inventory, in pursuit of the marquee name. Of course, whether Marks can turn over the rest of the roster in a season or two to support that star, that path also bears risks in the form of injuries and potential chemistry issues. Been there.
Now that Milwaukee appears to be on the brink of a third consecutive first-round playoff exit, down 3-1 to Indiana and with Damian Lillard sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a torn Achilles, media speculation over the status of All-World forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has only gathered further oxygen. Will he request a trade this offseason? Will the Bucks dare to trade him? Where would he want to play? What would it cost to obtain his services, and how many teams have that fortune at their disposal?
I delved into why the Nets do not make sense at this time in a prior post (Antetokounmpo A Pipe Dream For Not-Ready Nets). The team is currently in such a sorry state that it doesn’t make sense for him to waste a few more prime years toiling in mediocrity until Marks fills out the roster with legitimate NBA players. If Giannis can’t find a superior program, he might as well stay in Milwaukee.
I know many Nets fans don’t want to hear this, but a sensible Giannis-to-Brooklyn dream could have happened in an alternate yet reality-based universe, one where the Bridges/Houston trades couldn’t be undone but the Nets held onto Schroder and Finney-Smith.
That likely would have resulted in a few extra wins, enough to catapult them over some teams in the Lottery odds, maybe to ninth in the reverse standings instead of sixth. I know, “Horrors!” But think big picture. Consider the current state of the league, where the Nets would still have been a unicorn in a Land of No Cap Space, allowing them to retain their key free agents and shop for others.
However, in order to maximize the cap room, the Nets would have had to bid adieu to a handful of free agents like D’Angelo Russell, Ziaire Williams, and some end of bench guys. That would have set them up to make the following moves:
1) In a three-way trade, Nets send Nic Claxton to Chicago, Dariq Whitehead and five first-round picks to Milwaukee, and receive Antetokounmpo from the Bucks and Nikola Vucevic from the Bulls (broken up so that the Nets can use their $23 million trade exception)
The above parameters would have at least worked under the Spotrac.com trade machine, though the details might have to be massaged to even out the fairness. Maybe Milwaukee would need another 1 or some 2s. In this scenario, the Bulls would get younger to match their core’s timelines and the Bucks would get a boatload of picks for their own rebuild. In my vision, Brooklyn can’t have a Claxton/Giannis frontcourt. They just can’t. Even if Vucevic is a defensive zero, his floor spacing (40% on 4.4 three-pointers per game this season) is a necessity if you want a functioning offense with Antetokounmpo (22% from deep) dominating the ball. Fitting Vucevic into the trade exception is key for Brooklyn.
The Nets picks I selected to go to Milwaukee would be:
2025 No. 20 overall (a return of their own pick)
2025 No. 26 overall (originally from Knicks)
2026 Brooklyn
2027 Knicks
2029 Knicks
2) Draft Jase Richardson
This is an approximation because no one has any idea how any lottery will fall in this era of relatively flattened odds. I assumed the Nets would land outside the top four, after which the order is based on record. Michigan State’s Richardson is an example of one player who could be available at this slot, and his high IQ, high motor, and high 3-point percentage (41%) traits fit with how the Nets would approach a Giannis-led cast. For this purpose, the Nets’ fourth first-round pick this Draft would have been a Euro stash.
3) Use part of $8.8 million midlevel exception on Khris Middleton
The days where the three-time NBA All-Star can sign for big bucks are over. Age and injuries have diminished him, but he can still contribute in a lesser role. Maybe the former Buck would have liked to give it another go riding shotgun to Antetokounmpo one more time.
4) Extend Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe
Brooklyn can go over the cap to sign its two priority restricted free agents (and unrestricteds like Schroder). In this exercise, Thomas would have gotten a 3-year, $55 million extension ($15 million in 2025-26) while I’ll use Spotrac’s estimate of 3 years, $30 million for Sharpe.
5) Round out bench with minimum contracts
Instead of the likes of Trendon Watford, Jalen Wilson, Keon Johnson, Tyrese Martin, and Maxwell Lewis, the Nets would have looked for more experienced pros to fill some of these roster slots. Tyus Jones took a minimum deal with Phoenix last summer. It didn’t exactly work out there, though he had a pretty good year. Would he have accepted another one to play in Brooklyn? Veterans are likely to see more of these lesser opportunities this offseason as teams press up against the various luxury tax and apron levels, making every dollar saved count. Maybe the Nets could have checked in on players like Thomas Bryant or Gary Trent Jr. as well.
In the end, the 2025-26 Nets could have looked something like this (starters in bold):
Guards: Thomas, Schroder, Jones
Wings: Cam Johnson, Finney-Smith, Middleton, Trent, Watford, Richardson, Keon Johnson
Centers: Vucevic, Sharpe, Noah Clowney, Bryant
Superstar: Antetokounmpo
To be clear, this would not have been a championship contender. That wasn’t the point. However, this kind of configuration would have gotten the Nets a lot closer to that goal a lot sooner than the complete teardown option. I feel a bit sad because the fantasy above could have been the most balanced roster Marks ever constructed in his nine-year Brooklyn tenure.
Business interests and New York City glamour only go so far. A star like Antetokounmpo isn’t picking a new home unless he can see that the organization is making progress towards building a sustainable winner. On this make-believe path, Marks would have laid out a clear vision while maintaining the flexibility he covets with the Nets’ cap in addition to a pick inventory that would have been substantial enough to land another star if the opportunity struck.
Waiting on Draft picks and young players to develop is a viable plan too, but how many of the game’s greats would choose to go on the equivalent of a 12-hour blind date when a beauty is staring them in the face and giving them a come-hither look? In this metaphor, the Rockets are one of the beauties.
In other words, if you’ve been a pro-tanking Nets fan, you’d better pray for the mercy of the ping pong ball gods, because the strategy that sent most of their good players away might end up hindering the pursuit of a true superstar this summer.