Trading Harris Is Only Way Asset-Depleted Nets Can Acquire An Impactful Player Before Deadline To Help Reverse Slide
More Likely Marks Waits For Rescuing Cavalry To Come From Emptying Injured List
It’s easy for Nets fans to call for management to pound the panic button after what has to be the low point of the season--Wednesday’s 112-101 defeat at Sacramento. Losers of six straight and 13 of their last 19 games, Brooklyn (29-22) has fallen from first place in the Eastern Conference to sixth, 1.5 games above the play-in round cutoff. If the Nets can’t beat the woeful Kings, who are they going to beat in the next eight games or so before Kevin Durant recovers from his PCL strain in a couple more weeks sometime around or after the All-Star break?
So what that this was on the back end of a back-to-back following a grueling game at Phoenix on Wednesday. The Kings, minus guard De’Aaron Fox, had lost seven in a row, the last six on a brutal East coast trip. They stink.
Yet James Harden, mired in his most inconsistent season since he was an NBA pup, played his worst game since his hailed arrival in Brooklyn just over a year ago. Kyrie Irving, sensing Harden had no juice, resorted to hero ball in the fourth quarter, only he didn’t have it either.
It was as bad as it gets. The Nets just don’t have the right fits surrounding their stars—their best shooters are poor defenders and their best defenders can’t shoot. To borrow from “Animal House,” this whole situation screams for a really futile and stupid gesture. At least the team would then be acknowledging that there’s a problem.
Unfortunately, the way the Nets are structured, that panic button probably won’t pack the punch people expect, unless the organization decides to cut bait with Harden, an unlikely event prior to the February 10 trade deadline given the team’s superstar dynamic that has an outsized sway over its direction.
What else can the Nets bring to the table to acquire an impactful player? Thanks to the Harden blockbuster, they have no first-round draft picks to trade until 2028 and no seconds until 2025. In addition, Brooklyn is not only well above the salary cap and luxury tax thresholds, their payroll is tied up in their Big 3, leaving only one real mid-tier salary they can shed to help match incoming acquisitions—Joe Harris’ $17 million.
In order to use one of their three trade exceptions, the Nets can only offer draft picks as consideration, not other players. The Nets can sever a deal into two pieces to include someone like pending restricted free agent center Nic Claxton, but that doesn’t help them with the exception limit. What player making no more than $11.4 (from the Spencer Dinwiddie sign-and-trade to Washington last offseason) is worth Claxton, who put up season highs in points (23) and blocks (5) in Sacramento, and/or their last tradeable first-round pick this decade? I’ve seen ESPN’s salary list for this season—believe me, other than young players on rookie contracts who would never be available in a million years (think Luka Doncic), the options aren’t all that appetizing. For a lesser price, I’d consider Boston’s Dennis Schroder or New York’s Alec Burks, scoring guards who are thought to be on the block, only those teams probably wouldn’t be all that comfortable helping a division rival.
As for what the Nets need, there are two basic weaknesses—a 3-and-D forward a la the departed Jeff Green and the aforementioned shot-creating backup guard. It sure looked like Kings forward Harrison Barnes was auditioning to be paroled unto the Nets when he registered an efficient 19 points from all three levels on Wednesday, but understand that he is making $20.3 million this season. Barnes and his 40% three-point shooting might be a great fit here, but it would cost Harris, the NBA’s reigning three-point king who has been out since mid-November with an ankle injury, and possibly more to entice Sacramento to deal, as teams in their predicament typically hold out for younger assets/draft picks. The same applies to Houston scoring guard Eric Gordon, who is earning $18.2 million this season. I’ve always thought Robert Covington would look fabulous in a Brooklyn uniform, but Portland’s wing will be highly coveted this week—expect the Blazers to ask for a ransom for a pending free agent. Detroit’s Jerami Grant is even further out of Brooklyn’s price range.
The gravity Harris provides is so crucial to the Nets’ offense—they were the league’s best three-point shooting team before he went down and dropped to 24th in efficiency since. I’d still move him if it could bring back Barnes or Gordon, but I doubt Nets General Manager Sean Marks will, and his vote is the only one that counts.
Without involving Harris, though, there’s a good chance that Marks won’t be able to consummate any major deal that will help his team get back on the right track. The implementation of the play-in round inherently reduced the number of teams to maybe seven who I’d put in the sellers category. That affects not only the supply of tradeable players but also those who might be available in the post-deadline buyout market.
If, as some believe, center Serge Ibaka and the Clippers will eventually amicably part ways, there’s no guarantee that Brooklyn will be his first choice the way LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin arrived here last season—in fact, the duo’s continued presence may sway Ibaka to consider other destinations so as to not end up in a Paul Millsap situation, where the four-time All-Star who signed as a free agent last offseason recently informed the Nets about his unhappiness over his lack of playing time and is now working with Marks to find a new home.
I know, the angst among my fellow Nets Nation dwellers is palpable and this column hasn’t been all that helpful in soothing the condition. With KD, Harris and Aldridge all sidelined and Irving a road games-only participant, this has been an untenable stretch of a long season that still has the highest of aspirations. We all want something done, just for the sake of doing something.
Unfortunately, the rescuing cavalry might have to come in the form of an emptied injured list—whenever, if ever—not through a trade.