The Brooklyn Nets made a decision to part ways with their head coach Steve Nash on November 1. At the time, it was expected that disgraced Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka would be the next in line on the Brooklyn bench. However, ‘strong voices‘ within the Nets organization urged the franchise to rethink the hiring, and the job was officially given to interim head coach Jacque Vaughn. Vaughn has publicly got the backing of players like Kevin Durant, Seth Curry and more.
One of the interesting developments since Vaughn took over at the helm of the Nets bench is that he has made some changes to the Nets’ rotations. Cam Thomas, who was largely out of the Nets rotation, has seen an increase from 7 minutes to 16.4 minutes per game in the month of November. Edmond Sumner has also been another guard that has seen more minutes. It’s veteran point guard Patty Mills who has seen a decrease in minutes per game and is now below 10 per game in November.
Patty Mills to be Traded by the Nets?
With Mills falling out of the Nets rotation, some are expecting the team to move on from the veteran. On the new episode of ‘Postin’ Up with Keith Smith and Adam Taylor,’ NBA Insider Keith Smith speculated that the Nets could look to move the Australian point guard ahead of this year’s trade deadline.
“Now, they’ve done a better job with their three max guys in Durant, Irving, and Simmons of building out their roster around those three guys because they’ve kept Harris, They’ve got Curry, You’ve got Claxton, Um, you’ve got Royce O’Neale, They’ve built up a kind of stack of mid-range tradable contracts. I think the guy who’s most likely to get moved in any deal from them is Patty Mills, and he feels super redundant, especially if you feel like Kyrie is going to be there. He doesn’t really play. He’s not in the rotation now, wasn’t in the rotation. Even when Kyrie was out. They were going to Edmond Sumner and cam Thomas over him and bad about seven million dollars. That that’s a decent chunk of matching salary. So I think if they’re gonna do anything the upgrade,” Smith said.
Smith cited Mills’ minutes and tradeable contract as a reason the Nets may look to move on from him. Another reason is due to the emergence of Edmond Sumner and Cam Thomas inserting themselves in the rotation. Could Mills be a valuable trade chip as winter approaches?
Other Potential Nets Trade
Mills isn’t the only player that Brooklyn may look to deal this winter. One NBA Executive told Heavy Sports that he thinks the Nets may look to move on from another guard being, Joe Harris or Seth Curry.
“One of them [Curry or Harris] will get dealt before the deadline, that would be my guess. Both are really good shooters, obviously, that is their skill. But both are bad defenders who will be targeted in the playoffs. Obviously, finding a new home for either guy has not been the priority for them this summer so, no, they have not really had talks about a deal for either guy, so far.
But I suspect they’ll want to come out and see how healthy Harris is, see if he is back to his old form, then they may start to figure out what they can get for him vs. what they can get for Curry. Harris has more value if he can show he is healthy — he is not as poor a defender as Curry. If they’re going to try to make a deep playoff run, Harris is more likely the one they’d keep,” the executive told Heavy.
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Nets ‘Most Likely’ to Move on from Veteran Sharpshooter, per Insider