5 Nets Offseason Trade Targets
By jhaverford
Malcolm Brogdon
Few players make as much sense to get traded as Malcolm Brogdon will this offseason. The Portland Trail Blazers went the methodical route of trading Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks for Jrue Holiday and secondary pieces. This was an elaborate move to also trade Holiday and get more assets from the Boston Celtics.
Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams are the names Portland kept all season to wait for summer shopping. The Blazers hope that more teams coming off disappointing eliminations will want to improve their bench. Brogdon proved for Boston that he could contribute to a winning team and give a credible team consistently strong guard minutes.
Brooklyn will be settling for a smaller move to stay flexible if they go the Brogdon route. Draft picks will likely be prioritized by Portland for the rest of their rebuild. The Nets could afford Brogdon at a cheaper price to keep most of their roster. A combination of Finney-Smith and either Ben Simmons or Dennis Schroder would be the main Brooklyn point guards if they acquired Brogdon.
Dejounte Murray
There were rumors of interest from Brooklyn when the Atlanta Hawks listed Dejounte Murray on the trade block mid-season. Atlanta ended up keeping Murray since all offered deals were too cheap, but there is a good chance either Dejounte or Trae Young will be moved this summer to shake up the roster. Young is a harder player to trade and has more history with the Hawks, which makes Murray a more likely target.
The Nets would love to add another strong defender to improve the woeful backcourt defense from last season. Sean Marks has a history with the San Antonio Spurs organization and has likely kept a close eye on Murray since those days. Brooklyn would clearly improve with Murray, but they still wouldn’t sniff the dream of contending for a title.
Murray would be a perfect stop-gap trade to lower the floor for next season while keeping him as a trade asset to further improve down the line. The Hawks would love Dorian Finney-Smith and other role players with draft picks to add to their depth.