The Brooklyn Nets have an important offseason ahead of them as they try to figure out which direction they want to head in. Despite reluctantly trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at the February trade deadline, Brooklyn still managed to make it to the playoffs without needing to go through the play-in tournament by holding on to the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Despite the optimism coming from head coach Jacque Vaughn, it was clear that the Nets team that was assembled after the trade deadline was not nearly as good as the one led by Durant and Irving and for obvious reasons. While the organization was led by players like Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, there wasn’t an established superstar on the team any longer.
That fact became more apparent in the playoffs as Brooklyn was swept by the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers despite getting good chances to steal a game or two thanks to James Harden getting thrown out in the third quarter of Game 3 and Joel Embiid missing Game 4 with a knee injury. Scoring was an issue for the Nets after the trade deadline, but this mock trade with the Golden State Warriors by the NBA Analysis Network may be able to solve that issue: