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If the Brooklyn Nets do wind up making a move or two this offseason they’re certainly going to add proven veterans who can complement Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Brooklyn has several younger players who might be able to do the same, but those individuals could also serve as trade pieces to help bring in other players who the Nets feel are more of a sure thing.
Among the young players who could be moved are Taurean Prince and Rodions Kurucs.
Prince turned a lot of heads in last preseason, but then never managed to live up to the hype after quickly earning a two-year contract extension.
Kurucs’ sophomore got off to a rough start before it even began as the forward experienced troubles off the court. It wasn’t until the Disney bubble that he managed to find his flow again.
Alex Schiffer and John Hollinger of The Athletic think these two forwards paired together, along with a 2021 second-round draft pick could deliver Brooklyn a different forward who’s been in the league since 2007: the San Antonio Spurs’ Rudy Gay.
Schiffer points out Gay is in the final year of his deal with San Antonio, he’s coming off a year in which he shot 40.2% from deep and he “could be re-signed to a more team-friendly deal after next season if he proves to be a strong role player next to Durant and Irving.
“Gay has more potential to be an offensive fulcrum for the second unit than Prince does,” Hollinger writes, “and with the Nets in win-now mode, his age (34) shouldn’t be a big turn off.
“Come playoff time, the Nets could put together an interesting look with Gay and Durant as the ‘bigs’ and no true center. The Spurs actually fiddled with Gay at five during some of the bubble games. But for it to really pay off in the regular season, the Nets need to be cool with Durant and Gay playing the two forward spots at the same time, requiring one of them to defend 3s.”