The Brooklyn Nets have an important offseason ahead of them and until the NBA world sees what moves the franchise makes between now and the start of the 2023-24 season, all there will be is rumors and speculations. Per John Hollinger of The Athletic, the Nets should try to win now as opposed to going into a full rebuild.
As many have pointed out since Brooklyn’s season ended in the first round of the Eastern Conference as a sweep as the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Nets do not have control of their own first-round picks for the next few seasons because of the trade that brought James Harden from the Houston Rockets to Brooklyn. As such, the Nets are not in control of its own draft destiny and that is somewhere you do not want to be as a franchise.
Thanks to the trades of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn has a good mix of players and draft capital to either make a significant trade or take advantage of owning the draft futures of teams like the Phoenix Suns and the 76ers. Here’s more of why Hollinger suggests that the Nets win as much as they can for the time being:
“Brooklyn owes unprotected picks to Houston in 2024 and 2026 and unprotected swaps in 2025 and 2027. Thus, Brooklyn trading its good players and tanking would do a lot more for the Rockets than the Nets. Brooklyn’s likely best path forward is to muddle along with a Bridges-centric team, especially since he’s signed through 2026 to one of the league’s best contracts.”
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