Nets Among Favorites to Sign $158 Million All-Star

The Brooklyn Nets impressed many people when they made the playoffs this season despite trading Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant at the February deadline. However, they did not make any noise once the postseason started. Just like last season, the Nets were swept in the first round of the playoffs, this time by the Philadelphia 76ers. They have proven they still need an additional star to reach the next level.

With an abundance of draft picks at their disposal, one executive told Heavy’s Sean Deveney that the Nets are expected to be one of the suitors looking to pull off a blockbuster deal to land Minnesota Timberwolves star big man Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns will enter the first year of a 4-year, $225 million deal at the start of the 2024-25 season.

“Among the teams that executives mentioned as potential suitors for Towns: Brooklyn and Miami (two teams that will inevitably come up in any potential superstar trade talks in the next six months, though the Heat’s Jimmy Butler has a rocky history with Towns), Portland (in a Damian Lillard deal?) and Indiana,” The executive said to Deveney.

“Should Boston consider dealing away All-Star wing Jaylen Brown, which is a longshot, the Celtics could offer the best single player in return for Towns. But if a Towns moves comes about, New York is the likeliest landing spot.”

Executive Gets Honest About the Timberwolves

The Timberwolves have defined what it means to be a middle-of-the-pack team. They always play just well enough to get into the postseason and then fall flat on their faces once they get there.

It is a bit of a head-scratcher because it isn’t like they have a terrible roster. Karl-Anthony Towns is an All-Star caliber center. The front office hit a home run by drafting Anthony Edwards with the first overall pick and traded a historic number of draft picks to land former Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert last summer.

But despite their continued shortcomings, the executive told Deveney that while the opportunity for the Timberwolves to make a move is on the table, it isn’t necessary.

“They don’t have to do anything, really, and they don’t have to do it now. They need to get their point-guard spot settled. Then they can approach next year with Karl-Anthony healthy and with everyone knowing their roles. I don’t know if he and Gobert can work but they probably think it didn’t get a long enough look,” the executive added.

“They have some time to think about it, and maybe Towns goes to them and decides he wants out. In that situation, you are going to see a whole bunch of teams try to get involved at that point but not too many have the juice to get something done.”

Sean Marks Sounds off on State of the Nets

The same could be said for the Nets. Brooklyn may be devoid of a household name, but Mikal Bridges has proven to be a superstar talent. They have also recouped some solid players in Cameron Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Dorian Finney-Smith. In addition, the draft picks they have hoarded from the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns could benefit them in the future, especially with top prospects such as Bronny James, expected to enter the NBA shortly. Nets general manager Sean Marks says he is happy with the current roster.

” I think it was the spirit, the collective spirit of the group. It would be nice to see this group stick it out and be together as long as they can,” Marks said of the Nets’ current roster.

“I think I would have loved to have had an entire year, an entire season of looking at what this group could look like, but at the end of the day, I think there was some, some real bright spots here and in how the coaches and players connected. We saw players take their games to new heights. We saw players that maybe we didn’t expect to have the type of roles ahead really exceed them.”