Getty Kyrie Irving (left) and coach Jacque Vaughn of the Nets
As the February 9 NBA trade deadline approaches, general managers around the league are preparing to make final roster upgrades for this season. Whether it be to land a marquee player to make winning teams even better contenders or a losing team trading their best player to officially start a rebuild.
The Brooklyn Nets have been major players during the last two trade deadlines. In 2021 they made the blockbuster trade that brought All-Star guard James Harden to Brooklyn from the Houston Rockets. Then, the very next year, the Nets traded Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, and Seth Curry. ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski expects the Nets to once again be “active” during this year’s trade window.
“Brooklyn, like a lot of other contenders out there in both conferences, see a marketplace right now that is much more of a sellers than a buyers’ market,” Wojnarowski said during an appearance on the January 11 episode of “NBA Today”.
“Just not enough teams have really made the decision that they are going to be sellers. That usually happens closer to that February 9th deadline. I think Brooklyn is going to be active. I think they’re going to upgrade particularly in the front court.”
Woj: “Brooklyn [Nets], like a lot of other contenders out there in both conferences, see a marketplace right now that is much more of a sellers than a buyers market. Just Not enough teams have really made the decision that they’re going to be sellers, that they’re out of it.”
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Nets to ‘Evaluate Their Roster’ in Wake of Kevin Durant Injury
Coming into this season, there were several questions surrounding the Nets’ roster, and most people were not sure what to expect from the moves they made during the offseason.
They brought back restricted free agent big man Nic Claxton, but nobody was sure if he had what it took to be a legit starting center. They also signed TJ Warren, who had proven himself as a legit NBA scoring threat but had played just four games in the last two seasons due to injury. And with Ben Simmons, Joe Harris, and Seth Curry coming off of off-season surgeries, there was uncertainty about what they could contribute.
But so far, the Nets roster has seemed to gel quite nicely. But that will be tested over the next two weeks as their best player Kevin Durant recovers from his knee injury. Wojnarowski says that this period without Durant will be an opportunity for Nets general manager Sean Marks to “evaluate their roster”.
“What the Nets get to do now is evaluate their roster without Kevin Durant, who has been such a dominant force for them,” he said. “You [ESPN NBA Today Reporters] mentioned Kyrie Irving. Certainly, him leading the way now with this team. T.J. Warren was brought in to be able to be a really productive offensive player. He gets that opportunity now; Seth Curry and Joe Harris,” Wojnarowski added.
“Now for Brooklyn, they have some time to see how these players play before they have to make some decisions probably closer to the trade deadline on deals.”
Nets Coach on Kevin Durant Injury: ‘Nothing Changes’
For those who may be tardy to the party, Durant sprained his right MCL against the Miami Heat on January 8. After initial imaging, the Nets sidelined the star forward for at least two weeks, after which he will be re-evaluated. His injury couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time for the Nets. After starting the season 2-6, they catapulted themselves to second place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Durant suffered the same injury last year at around this point of the season, and the Nets were also one of the top teams in the NBA then. But Durant’s injury made the Nets crumble as they plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and ultimately ended up being a play-in team.
While the Nets want to avoid repeating last year’s disaster, head coach Jacque Vaughan says that Durant’s injury won’t change the way that Brooklyn approaches its matchups without him.
“Our schemes won’t change. We’ll need to do things better, whether that is rebounding the basketball better because Kevin can make a shot for us and cover up some of our sins. So, the shot discrepancy can’t be the same. We can’t turn it over the same. So, all the things that increase or decrease your margins, we just got to be better at. Nothing changes for our group,” Vaughn told reporters on January 11 via NetsDaily.
“We play extremely hard and let everything else fall where it may.”
The Nets will have a big test in their first game without Durant as they take on the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics on January 12.