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The Nets have till the top of Wednesday to resolve whether or not to defer the first-round draft choose they obtained from Philadelphia.
The sense across the league is that Brooklyn will kick the can down the highway and decide to make use of the choose subsequent 12 months as a substitute of this month — that’s, in the event that they use it in any respect. However they’ll have till 5 p.m. to let the NBA and the 76ers know their determination.
After dealing away their very own pure 2022, ’24 and ’26 first-round picks to Houston within the 2021 deal for James Harden, the Nets took a step towards replenishing that naked draft cabinet at this 12 months’s commerce deadline, getting again a pair of picks within the Harden commerce to the 76ers. The sooner of the 2 is the one in query.
Brooklyn obtained the 76ers unprotected first-rounder within the June 23 draft, to be held at Barclays Middle. The choose turned out to be the Twenty third-overall choice, which might be the very best they’ve made in years.
Technically, the Nets took Saddiq Bey at No. 19 in 2020 and Nickeil Alexander-Walker No. 17 the 12 months earlier than, however each have been in actuality shipped out on draft-night trades. Really, Jarrett Allen — choose No. 22 in 2017 — was the final time the Nets had used a choose this excessive.
There’s actually no assure they may this 12 months. Since arriving in Brooklyn, GM Sean Marks has normally been energetic on or within the days main as much as draft night time. It wouldn’t be shocking if he stayed true to kind.
Brooklyn has labored out over two dozen projected first-rounders in accordance with NetsDaily — together with Ohio State’s Malaki Branham, LSU’s Tari Evans, Nebraska’s Bryce McGowens and North Carolina State’s Terquavian Smith, although Smith instructed ESPN Tuesday that he plans to return to highschool.
“We’re going via as if we’re looking for someone for this roster, for this staff that may assist us transfer ahead with,” Marks stated in Might. “So clearly if we discover a group that we predict goes to be there, then we preserve the choose. In order that’s what we’re planning on proper now.
“This can be a enjoyable time of 12 months for the entrance workplace and to have these discussions with the coaches once they’re on the market they usually’re evaluating, they’re scouting these younger males to see who may probably don a Nets uniform subsequent 12 months.”
Regardless of the Nets’ disappointing seventh-place end within the East, it appears unlikely to discover a rotation piece at No. 23 on what they anticipate to be a championship contender. A rookie who’ll carry a $2.5 million cap hit and be hard-pressed to search out minutes.
It’s simple to see them not making the choose this season.
Apart from the taxpayer mid-level exception, a commerce is Brooklyn’s greatest method to enhance the roster. The choose (packaged together with certainly one of their 5 commerce exceptions) may very well be the perfect asset.
However even simply punting the choose to subsequent season may very well be logical. It’s seemingly price extra if traded earlier than the deadline passes, because the buying staff would additionally get the identical deferment choice. However with time working quick on that, most league personnel that spoke with The Publish anticipate the Nets to defer.
That in a method may very well be banking on Harden’s continued slide (he shot a career-worst 40.2 % with Philadelphia), and hoping the 76ers find yourself worse within the standings. And even when they don’t, subsequent 12 months’s draft is projected to be deeper and higher than this 12 months’s.
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