The Brooklyn Nets have been one of the more interesting teams in the NBA in recent memory and not for all of the best reasons. After the past two seasons, Brooklyn have traded three superstars along with a valuable two-way player in Mikal Bridges, but they’re at least getting their praises for their return.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report, their NBA staff decided to regrade some of the biggest trades that have happened in the last five years. As every Nets fan knows, Brooklyn has been involved in some of the biggest trades over the past couple of seasons, including trading Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns.
As a recap of the trade, the Nets received Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Cameron Johnson, 2023 first-round pick (Noah Clowney), 2025 first-round pick, 2027 first-round pick, 2028 first-round swap, 2029 first-round pick while the Suns received Durant and TJ Warren.
While many had said at the time that the Nets do not do a good job of managing their superstar era of Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden since all of the stars requested their own trades before anything substantial happened.
Given that Brooklyn was able to get so much for Durant and then get so much for Bridges after trading him to the New York Knicks last month, the franchise is now looking like one of the best organizations in terms of getting equitable returns for their players.
As a result, Bleacher Report gave the Nets an A++++ grade because of the combined returns for Durant and Bridges and now, Brooklyn is set up well for the next few years in terms of draft capital. Here’s what Dan Favale had to say about the Nets’ grade:
“Bridges was just flipped to the New York Knicks for five additional first-round picks and another first-round swap. Brooklyn was also able to leverage Phoenix’s 2027 and 2029 selections into regaining control of its own first-rounders for 2025 and 2026.
All told, the Nets basically turned KD and two swaps into seven extra first-round picks, the return of the rights to a pair of their own firsts, another two swaps and Cam Johnson. (Crowder was also used to scoop up seconds from Milwaukee in 2028 and 2029—another savvy move).”
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