The Brooklyn Nets have had an unexpected start to the season. Despite being predicted to have the fewest wins in the league, their 4-6 record so far has surprised many. However, this strong performance could hurt them in the long run.
Winning games now means they are moving further away from a top pick in this year’s draft, which is seen as having a lot of talented players. NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Sunday that other teams expect the Nets to trade some of their key players before the trade deadline in February.
“Dennis Schroder, Dorian Finney-Smith, Bojan Bogdanovic are all quality vets with salaries under $20 million and are often mentioned by rival teams as players likely to be moved before the Feb. 6 trade deadline,” Stein wrote. “With first-year coach Jordi Fernandez clearly trying to win games, Brooklyn might have to think about rebuilding sooner than they thought.”
With these three veterans possibly on the trade block, the Nets are likely to get interest from other teams around the league. The Nets have shown in the past that they want to bring star players to Brooklyn, but that approach hasn’t worked out so far.
It might be time for a more careful rebuild, similar to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s approach, focusing on smart trades and the draft.
The Nets already have four first-round picks in the strong 2025 NBA Draft, thanks to trades involving Mikal Bridges and Kevin Durant. They also have more picks coming in future years.
The Nets have proven in recent years that they can find talent in the draft. They selected scoring star Cam Thomas with the 27th pick in 2021 and solid center Nicolas Claxton with the 31st pick in 2019.
If they can trade Schroder, Finney-Smith, and Bogdanovic for more draft picks, they could give themselves more chances to make a big pick for their rebuild.
It’s clear that if the Nets want to rebuild properly, they need to move some of their current talent quickly. Every win they get from their veterans moves them further away from a chance at getting top draft talent like Cooper Flagg. By trading some of their older players, the Nets could add more valuable draft picks to help with their future rebuild.
