The Brooklyn Nets have finally made a decision on how they want to operate as a franchise over the next few years in the midst of the Big 3 era coming to an end. With not much happening after that, Brooklyn moved on by trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks, making it clear that they were choosing to rebuild with the hope of drafting their next superstar.
On Jun. 25, the Nets traded Bridges to the Knicks and a 2026 second-round picks to the Knicks in exchange for forward Bojan Bogdanovic and as many as five first-round picks with one of those picks coming from the Milwaukee Bucks as long as the pick falls outside of the top-4. Brooklyn then doubled-down on their commitment to their rebuild by re-signing center Nic Claxton to keep him around and continue his development.
Now that Brooklyn has decided to go the route of building through the draft like a lot of people in the NBA space had been suggesting them to do, there’s still a matter of the veterans that remain on the team. Here are six players that are considered to be trade candidates, according to reporting by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype:
G/F Ben Simmons
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Simmons is heading into the last year of his contract and is owed $40.3 million over the course of the 2023-24 season. Simmons’ tenure in Brooklyn has been marred by injuries and underwhelming play, but now that he’s an expiring contract, it’s possible that Brooklyn could use him to get young players and/or draft capital.
G Dennis Schroder
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Schroder came to the Nets after the trade deadline for the 2023-24 season and was arguably one of the most impactful players on the team because of his play and his leadership. However, Schroder will be 31 years old when September comes around and despite saying all the right things, he would probably prefer playing for a contender.
F Cam Johnson
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Johnson will be entering the second year of the four-year, $94.5 million contract that he signed last summer to come back to the Nets after coming to Brooklyn as part of the Kevin Durant trade during the 2022-23 season. Similar to the aforementioned veterans, Johnson would probably prefer to play for a team with playoff aspirations and it seems that there a significant amount of teams interested in his services.
F Dorian Finney-Smith
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Finney-Smith has two years left on his current deal, but with the second year being a player option, it’s possible that he will be leaving Brooklyn either through a trade or through free-agency. Similar to Johnson, there are plenty of teams that have shown interest in Finney-Smith so it could be a matter of time before he’s wearing a different uniform.
C Day'Ron Sharpe
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Sharpe is a player that could be coveted by a few teams looking for center depth or possibly someone to buy low on now that Claxton should be in Brooklyn for the time being after signing his new contract. As of right now, there isn’t enough center on the roster so Sharpe being traded is less likely than some of the aforementioned veterans, but there is a possibility that Sharpe could be looking for a bigger role as well.
F Bojan Bogdanovic
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Bogdanovic was the lone player that came over in the Bridges trade and while Bogdanovic is still capable of playing good basketball, he may be better served on a team looking to contend for a title. He has one year left on his contract at $19 million and while he could stay in Brooklyn as an expiring contract, Bogdanovic still has value on the open market for any team looking for a player that can score the basketball.
