The Brooklyn Nets should go after Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid in the offseason, according to Dan Favale of Bleacher Report. There was speculation leading up to the trade deadline that the Nets were going to trade for Reid in order to acquire more depth in the frontcourt to prepare for a championship run.
However, that did not come to fruition as Brooklyn had bigger problems to deal with. Despite still dealing with a lack of depth in the frontcourt because Nic Claxton is still the only true big on the team, Brooklyn had to focus on trading Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Both of those trade requests may have distracted the Nets from trying to get more frontcourt depth.
Reid is one of the players that Brooklyn has been linked to because of their need for size and because of Reid’s skill set. Reid has versatility similar to Nic Claxton in that he can switch and guard multiple positions, but unlike Claxton, Reid can shoot the three-ball at a good clip. Bleacher Report thinks that the non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception should be enough to draw Reid out of Minnesota:
“Consider this a (small) leap of faith. The Brooklyn Nets profile as taxpayers when factoring in Cam Johnson’s $17.7 million restricted free agency hold—and he might cost more than that to retain.
That payroll won’t stand. I think.
Brooklyn doesn’t have an incentive to burn it all down when Houston controls its next four first-rounders, but it’s also not competitive enough to float a roster that belly-flops into the luxury tax. The bet here is the Nets open up flexibility by selling off some combination of Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris or Royce O’Neale ($2.5 million guaranteed) or figuring out a way to divest their remaining commitment to Ben Simmons (two years, $78.2 million).”
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