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NBA Trade Deadline: Kevin Garnett Traded To Minnesota Timberwolves For Thaddeus Young

By Kenneth Teape

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NBA Trade Deadline: Kevin Garnett Traded Back Home For Thaddeus Young

The first official trade for the Brooklyn Nets has come across the newswire, and it involved Kevin Garnett. Garnett will be returning to where his NBA career started, as he will be sent to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Thaddeus Young.

For the Nets, this is an outstanding trade. Young, even though his numbers have dropped off from last season, is a huge upgrade over Garnett. This season Young is averaging 14.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game compared to 6.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 steals per game for Garnett, which are all near career-lows.

Young will step right into the starting power forward spot with the Nets, and should easily continue putting up the numbers he has thus far this season. He isn’t a ball dominating player, and will fit in as a complementary player next to Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez. He will also help out defensively, as he can guard multiple positions to help cover up for the deficiencies the Nets have at other positions on that end of the court. His ability to play both forward positions will give head coach Lionel Hollins some flexibility in the lineups that he uses as he can play small forward in big lineups or naturally at the power forward in small-ball lineups.

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The Nets have upgraded in their pursuit of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, a must with the moves other teams in the East had been making. Young arguably isn’t as big an addition as Goran Dragic for the Heat, or Reggie Jackson for the Pistons, but he nonetheless is an upgrade for the Nets that they needed.

For Garnett, this trade could be for nostalgia, but could also signal what some of his intentions for the future are. Garnett will provide veteran leadership for a team that doesn’t have much of it. He can teach the younger players how to prepare and be a player in the NBA. There aren’t many better players to learn from than Garnett.

This also gives Garnett a chance to rebuild a relationship that became strained on his way out of Minnesota, as he hopes to someday buy the team. This trade enables Garnett to get his feet back in the building and get things moving on that front.

While the Nets upgrade significantly, the bigger picture here is that the Nets and Timberwolves both blew first round draft picks leading up to this deal. In acquiring Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and Garnett, the Nets used three first round picks that they now only have Young and no real success to show for. For the Timberwolves, they just acquired Young this offseason for a first round pick. Seems like a waste to move on from him already just for some nostalgia and career-building for Garnett.

Just shows how weird the NBA can be and how quickly the landscape can change.

Next: What lessons did we learn from Brooklyn Nets' first 52 games?

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