Brooklyn Nets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

New York Notes: Harden, Irving, Burks, Quickley, Claxton, Sharpe, Mills, Aldridge

January 22nd, 2022 at 9:25am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets’ two healthy stars had a “breakthrough” performance on Friday, James Harden told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and other media members. Harden and Kyrie Irving combined for 26 fourth-quarter points against San Antonio. Harden finished with 37 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

“For sure, it was a breakthrough,” Harden said. “(Kyrie)’s capable of doing that at any moment and any point in the game. That’s one of the reasons why we need him every single game, because he’s able to do that, especially with everything that’s going on with our team. But he’s able and more than capable of doing things like that whenever he wants. I think he just tries to get us involved a little bit more, but he’s a special talent.”

Of course, Irving can only play half the time due his unvaccinated status. Kevin Durant is sidelined by a knee injury and there’s no timetable for his return.

We have more on the New York teams:

There are all kinds of issues with the Knicks these days, including the lack of production from guards Alec Burks and Immanuel Quickley, Marc Berman of the New York Post notes. Burks signed a three-year, $30MM contract during the offseason and Quickley is on his rookie deal. They’ve tanked during the current three-game losing streak, shooting 22-for-77 (30.6%) from the field.
The Nets are reportedly looking for a way to deal Paul Millsap, who hasn’t been able to crack the rotation. That’s due to the increase in minutes for young players Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. That has made it difficult for coach Steve Nash to fit in the numerous frontcourt veterans dotting the roster. “Just a difficult situation that we didn’t necessarily foresee, but here we are,” Nash said. “And Day’Ron and Nic have emerged.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich offered high praise for two of his former players, the Nets’ Patty Mills and LaMarcus Aldridge, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News relays (Twitter links). Of Mills, Popovich said, “he’s always positive, a consummate pro in preparing for his job, gives everything he has in every practice and every game, supports everybody on the team and in the organization.” Regarding Aldridge, Popovich said, “LA did all the community things Patty did….He just did it quietly. … He was a great teammate with everybody, a heck of a player.”

Knicks, Nets Each Fined $25K By NBA

January 21st, 2022 at 12:16pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has hit New York’s two franchises with fines, announcing in a pair of press releases that the Knicks and Nets have each been docked $25K.

The Knicks’ penalty is a result of violating league rules relating to media interview access, according to the league. New York refused to make Julius Randle available to reporters following Thursday’s loss to the Pelicans. It was the seventh straight time that Randle hasn’t spoken to the media after a game, notes Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link), so the fine is presumably a response to a series of violations rather than a single incident.

Randle has had an up-and-down season after winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2020/21, and Thursday definitely qualified as one of his “down” moments. The veteran forward scored just four points on 1-of-9 shooting in an 11-point home loss. The last time he spoke to reporters after a game was when he gave a thumbs-down sign during a home game and later explained that it was a signal for the fans who had criticized him to “shut the f–k up” (Twitter link via Katz).

The Nets’ fine, meanwhile, is related to an incident involving assistant coach David Vanterpool, who received a separate $10K fine of his own. During Wednesday’s game vs. Washington, Vanterpool reached out from the sidelines to deflect a pass from Wizards guard Spencer Dinwiddie intended for forward Kyle Kuzma, resulting in a turnover (Twitter link). The incident wasn’t caught in the moment by referees and Brooklyn ended up winning the game by a single point.

Head coach Steve Nash said today that Vanterpool feels badly about his actions and called it an honest mistake in the heat of the moment (Twitter link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).

Checking In On Traded 2022 First-Round Picks

January 21st, 2022 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

We’re over halfway through the 2021/22 NBA regular season, which means it’s a good time to take a look at where things stand with 2022’s traded first-round picks. Many of the traded first-rounders for the ’22 draft come with protections, so there’s a chance they might not change hands this year after all.

Using our list of traded first-round picks for 2022 and our reverse standings tool, here’s our breakdown of which of those traded picks are most and least likely to change hands, and which ones remain up in the air:

Picks that will definitely change hands:

Thunder acquiring Clippers‘ pick (unprotected).

When the Clippers traded a series of first-round picks and swaps to the Thunder in the Paul George blockbuster in the 2019 offseason, they weren’t counting on losing both George and Kawhi Leonard to long-term injuries in the same season. That’s the case this year though, and it could result in Oklahoma City receiving an extra lottery pick.

The Clippers are currently in a play-in spot, so their pick could move to No. 15 or lower if they make the playoffs, but for now it’s projected to be No. 11 or No. 12 (they’re tied with the Knicks in the NBA standings).

Thunder acquiring Suns‘ pick (top-12 protected).

The Thunder will also receive a first-round pick from another Pacific team, though that selection appears likely to end up at the very end of the round — the Suns have the league’s best record so far, so their pick would be at No. 30.

Grizzlies acquiring Jazz‘s pick (top-six protected).

The pick the Grizzlies are getting from the Jazz will fall near the end of the first round too. For now, it projects to be No. 25 or No. 26, as Utah is tied in the standings with the Heat.

Grizzlies or Pelicans acquiring Lakers‘ pick (unprotected).

The Lakers will send their first-rounder to the Pelicans if it lands in the top 10 or to the Grizzlies if it’s between 11-30. It’s certainly possible things continue to go south in Los Angeles and the pick moves up into the top 10 — if the Lakers don’t make the playoffs, their pick could even jump into the top four via the lottery.

For now though, the more likely scenario is that Memphis will get the Lakers’ pick — it would be No. 15 or No. 16 (they’re tied with Minesota) if the season ended today and L.A. clinched a playoff spot in the play-in tournament.

Picks that definitely won’t change hands:

Thunder acquiring Pistons’ pick (top-16 protected).
Hawks acquiring Thunder‘s pick (top-14 protected).

There’s still a lot of basketball to be played this season, but it seems pretty safe to pencil in the Pistons and Thunder as non-playoff teams, which means they’ll keep their first-round picks in 2022. Right now, Detroit’s at No. 2 in the lottery standings, while Oklahoma City’s at No. 4.

Given how weak the bottom half of the Western Conference has been, the Thunder could theoretically sneak into a play-in spot and make the playoffs, but it’s an extreme long shot — the teams ahead of them in the standings will be more motivated to push for the postseason.

Assuming they keep their pick this year, the Pistons will owe the Thunder their top-18 protected first-round pick in 2023. If the Thunder’s own pick is protected, they’ll instead send the Hawks their 2024 and 2025 second-round selections.

Still up in the air:

Hornets acquiring Pelicans‘ pick (top-14 protected)
Bulls acquiring Trail Blazers‘ pick (top-14 protected)

At this point, it looks more likely than not that the Pelicans and Trail Blazers will keep their own lottery-protected first-round picks.

Portland, despite holding the West’s No. 10 seed for now, has a tenuous hold on a play-in spot with Damian Lillard sidelined for a while. New Orleans may have some potential for a second-half surge, especially if Zion Williamson returns, but the team is on the outside looking in for the time being. Either team would have a difficult path to a playoff spot as a lower seed in the play-in tournament.

Currently, the Pelicans’ first-rounder projects to be No. 6 or No. 7 (they’re tied with San Antonio), pending lottery results. Assuming that pick ends up in the top 14, New Orleans would instead send their 2022 and 2024 second-round selections to the Hornets.

If the Trail Blazers keep their first-round pick, currently projected to be No. 9, they’d owe the Bulls their top-14 protected first-rounder in 2023.

Hawks acquiring Hornets‘ pick (top-18 protected)

The Hornets‘ first-round selection, which was just traded from New York to Atlanta in the Cam Reddish deal, is right on the edge and could go either way. It’s top-18 protected and is currently projected to be at No. 19, meaning the Hawks would receive it if the season ended today (as long as the seventh-seeded Hornets clinched a playoff spot in the play-in tournament). That could change quickly though.

Rockets acquiring most favorable of Heat‘s or Nets‘ pick (Heat get least favorable).

Finally, the Rockets will control the two most favorable picks of the following three: their own first-rounder, the Nets first-rounder, and the Heat‘s first-rounder; Miami will get the least favorable of the three, unless the Heat’s own pick lands in the top 14 (in which case Miami would keep it and Houston would get the other two picks).

It seems safe to assume at this point that the Rockets will keep their own selection and the Heat will make the playoffs, so it’ll come down to whether Brooklyn or Miami finishes higher in the standings. Currently, the Heat are a half-game ahead of the Nets, so Houston would get Brooklyn’s pick (No. 24) and Miami would hang onto its own (No. 25 or No. 26).

Nets Agree To Find New Home For Paul Millsap

January 20th, 2022 at 7:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets have reached an agreement with Paul Millsap to find a new team for the 36-year forward, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Brooklyn will look to trade the little-used big man and could waive him if those efforts fail. Millsap has only played in two of the Nets’ last 17 games. Overall, he’s seen action in 24 games off the bench this season, averaging 3.4 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 11.3 MPG.

Millsap agreed to a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract in free agency to join a championship contender after his former team, the Nuggets, didn’t pursue him. He spent four seasons in Denver, averaging 9.0 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 1.8 APG on .476/.343/.724 shooting in 56 games (20.8 MPG) in 2020/21.

The Warriors, Bulls, and Clippers showed interest in Millsap last summer, so perhaps one of those clubs might be willing to trade for him.

Nets Notes: Irving, Edwards, Trade Deadline

January 20th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

While the Nets would surely prefer to have Kevin Durant on the court, the timing of his knee injury may have been fortuitous for the team. Durant should be back in action well before the playoffs, and in the short term, the team is playing 11 of 14 games on the road, allowing Kyrie Irving to be available most of the time. As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes, Irving is welcoming the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities until Durant returns.

“I like the pressure,” Irving said after Wednesday’s win over Washington. “I love pressure. It brings out the best in me personally. And then also I’m able to carry that energy with the team whether it be communicating with guys in short conversations on the floor or off the floor.

“Just trying to demand a responsibility from all of us, from myself first, but from all of us, that this isn’t going to be perfect. It’s not going to ever look perfect. This is just what we have, and we can’t replace anybody that’s out. But what we can do is fill up the stat sheet with the little things that may show up and things that may not show up. We’ll see where we are at the end of the game when we leave it all out there playing hard.”

The first two games on Brooklyn’s current road trip have been Irving’s best of the season so far. Without Durant available, the veteran point guard averaged 28.5 PPG, 8.0 APG, and 5.0 RPG in 37.8 MPG in Cleveland and Washington.

Here’s more on the Nets:

After playing just 12 total minutes in the Nets’ first 27 games this season, rookie Kessler Edwards has become a regular part of the rotation recently, starting the last five games and averaging 32.7 MPG during that stretch. Brian Lewis of The New York Post explores how Edwards is making the most of his opportunity. Since he’s on a two-way contract, Edwards won’t be eligible to play for Brooklyn during the postseason unless he’s promoted to the 15-man roster at some point.
In a story for The Athletic, Alex Schiffer and John Hollinger weighed the Nets’ trade options, considered some potential targets on the buyout market, and took an early look at the team’s free agency situation. The Athletic’s duo believes it could be a pretty quiet deadline for Brooklyn, since the team doesn’t have many expendable trade chips that could be move without sacrificing depth.
In case you missed it, the NBA announced earlier today that Irving has been fined $25K for an incident that occurred during Monday’s game in Cleveland. We have the full story here.

Kyrie Irving Fined $25K For Interaction With Fan

January 20th, 2022 at 11:25am CST by Luke Adams

Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has been fined $25K by the NBA for directing obscene language toward a fan, the league announced today (via Twitter).

The incident took place during Monday’s game in Cleveland. Irving responded to a Cavaliers fan who was heckling him by saying, “Got y’all a championship and motherf—–s still ungrateful” (video link).

A $25K fine is a drop in the bucket for a maximum-salary player like Irving. Still, Kyrie won’t come close to earning his full $35MM base salary this season, since he’s also being fined 1/91.6th of his salary for each game he misses due to a local vaccine mandate. Today’s $25K penalty will be tacked onto the $380K+ he’s losing for each Brooklyn home game (and a select few road games).

Irving is the second Nets star to be disciplined within the last week for his choice of words. The league hit Kevin Durant with a $15K fine last Friday for using profane language during a media interview and failing to comply with an NBA Security interview as part of the review process.

Nets Exploring Trade Market For Nicolas Claxton?

January 18th, 2022 at 10:03am CST by Luke Adams

The Nets appear to have “dipped their toe” into the trade market for Nicolas Claxton, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst stated on his latest Hoop Collective podcast, adding that he has heard about Claxton’s possible availability from two different teams (hat tip to RealGM). While Brooklyn may not be actively looking to move the young center, the team is at least “feeling out” the market, Windhorst says.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the Nets considering the possibility of a Claxton trade. Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report said last month that Brooklyn “quietly gauged” the 22-year-old’s value at the 2021 draft. Fischer also reported that some rival executives believed the Nets would make Claxton available ahead of this season’s trade deadline.

Claxton will be eligible for restricted free agency this summer, and the Nets – already far above the luxury tax line – may be hesitant about giving him a sizeable raise. Additionally, rookie big man Day’Ron Sharpe has emerged recently as a viable rotation player who could claim some of Claxton’s minutes.

Still, Mark Deeks of Heavy.com isn’t convinced that trading Claxton would be the right call for the Nets, arguing that it would be difficult for the club to recoup enough value to make it worthwhile in both the short- and long-term.

Atlantic Notes: Irving, Brown, Tatum, Walker, Reddish

January 17th, 2022 at 6:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kevin Durant‘s knee injury, which is expected to keep him out four-to-six weeks, won’t change Kyrie Irving‘s mind about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, Adam Zagoria of Forbes.com writes.

“Kev’s gonna heal, Kev’s gonna be OK,” Irving said on Monday after the Nets lost in Cleveland. “And we’re going to have to deal with that as his teammates, but in terms of where I am with my life outside of this, I stay rooted in my decision and that’s just what it is.”

Irving will continue to be limited to road games unless he gets vaccinated. He suggests that will remain the case the rest of the way.

“I’ve made my decision and I’m standing by it…I stay rooted in what I believe in,” Irving said.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Celtics will approach the trade deadline with the intent of building around their two best players, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link). He said Marcus Smart, Dennis Schröder and some young players are available and Boston would like to find another play-maker or wing player. “(The Celtics’ approach) is to build around Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, not to break those two up,” Wojnarowski said. “The hard part for Boston is what are the other tradeable assets they want to move on from? They don’t want to trade Robert Williams, their young center. That’s a player they see at the center of what they’re doing moving forward.”
Kemba Walker missed his ninth straight game Monday due to a sore knee. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau doesn’t want him back until Walker is confident he can play on a regular basis. “The big thing regarding Kemba is I want him to feel as good as possible and a player like him in the situation he is in, I want him to trust where he is with his body,’ Thibodeau said. “When he’s ready, he’s ready. He’ll let us know. We trust him. What I don’t want [is] to get into a situation where it’s on-off, on-off.”
Cam Reddish has yet to make his Knicks debut due to a sprained ankle, but the newly-acquired forward believes he can blossom in New York, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. “I feel like I can be a star,” Reddish said. “I feel like I could be a legit star. That’s what I’m working to be. It’s pretty simple.”

Nets Notes: Harden, Durant, Harris, Aldridge

January 17th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Within a Substack article about the Ben Simmons situation, veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein repeats a point that has been expressed by a number of league insiders in recent months, writing that there’s a belief the Sixers are willing to retain Simmons until the offseason in case they can use him to acquire James Harden from the Nets. Harden has a player option for 2022/23, so if he wants a change of scenery, he could either opt out and pursue a new team as a free agent or push for a trade while opting in.

According to Stein, “there is enough noise circulating leaguewide about Harden’s reported openness to relocation this summer” to convince Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey it might make sense to hang onto Simmons through the deadline.

Stein’s wording is a little convoluted, suggesting any intel on Harden’s intentions probably isn’t from a first- or even second-hand source. But the idea that the former MVP isn’t a lock to stay in Brooklyn is an intriguing one — he turned down an extension offer from the Nets prior to the season.

Still, Harden has also spoken about wanting to remain in Brooklyn for the rest of his career, and given how the NBA’s salary cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement work, his decision to forgo an extension may have been more about maximizing his future earnings rather than a desire to jump ship. The Nets’ performance in this spring’s playoffs will certainly be fascinating to follow, since both Harden and Kyrie Irving are eligible for free agency this offseason.

Here’s more on the Nets:

The Nets have yet to offer any specific timeline for Kevin Durant‘s recovery from a left knee sprain, and Nash remained evasive today when he discussed the star forward’s status, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. “I think we don’t have a timeline, and it’s also a few weeks before we reevaluate it,” Nash said. “So, right now we’re just going to wait and see how it heels and how he recovers over the next few weeks, and then there will be more of an evaluation and hopefully some sort of timeline.” Adrian Wojnarowski previously reported that a four-to-six week recovery timetable is the expectation for Durant.
Joe Harris, who is coming off November ankle surgery, is with the Nets on their current road trip and is doing some shooting, but he won’t play during the trip, according to Nash (Twitter link via Lewis). That means Harris will remain sidelined for at least the next four games.
After missing the Nets’ last five games due to right foot soreness, LaMarcus Aldridge is back in action on Monday, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPN.

Examining What Kevin Durant's MCL Sprain Means For Nets

January 16th, 2022 at 7:32pm CST by JD Shaw

Alex Schiffer of The Athletic examines what Kevin Durant‘s MCL sprain means for the Nets. Durant is averaging 29.3 points per game this season, his highest mark since the 2012/13 season. He’s also shooting 52% from the floor, 37% from three and 89% from the charity stripe. “We’ve been a resilient group all year since I’ve been here,” James Harden said. “So, we just got to keep pushing.”