The Nets made a minor deal at the trade deadline on Thursday, a small but strategic move to get a draft pick for next to nothing. Brooklyn acquired Greg Monroe and a second-round pick from Toronto for cash considerations, with the big center the getting bought out and waived.
Monroe averaged 4.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 38 games with the Raptors.
“I’m happy with our roster, where it is right now,” Kenny Atkinson said. “I enjoy coaching these guys. … I really like our progress. We’re on the pace we’re on, and the fact that we’re getting healthy again, I’m very pleased, one through 17. That includes the G-League guys, Theo [Pinson] and Mitch [Creek] on the 10-day. I just really like our roster.”
On a one-year, veteran minimum contract, the Nets will pay Monroe $530,000 for the rest of the season and send $110,000 to Toronto. In essence, Nets general manager Sean Marks bought the Raptors’ 2021 second-rounder for roughly $640,000.
For perspective, in Marks’ first draft in 2016, the Nets sent $3 million and the 55th pick (which turned into Marcus Paige) to Utah just to move up 13 spots and select Isaiah Whitehead. Second-round picks normally cost at least $1.5 million no matter where they fall.
By offloading Monroe, Toronto — which just acquired star center Marc Gasol — will cut their tax bill by $1.7 million, according to The Athletic, the first to report the move.
Marks and Toronto GM Masai Ujiri have dealt in the past. The Nets taking DeMarre Carroll’s two-year, $30 million deal before last season landed them not only a productive veteran leader, but two 2018 picks. They used the first-rounder on Dzanan Musa and the second on Rodions Kurucs, who has claimed a starting job and made the Rising Star Challenge at All-Star weekend.
The Nets didn’t have any 2021 second-rounders before this year, but added Phoenix’s pick (protected 31-25) by swapping Darrell Arthur for Jared Dudley’s contract. Now they’ve added another.
Brooklyn released Creek from his 10-day contract, leaving the roster at 16 players, with the Monroe trade still pending league approval. The Nets had to cut him to create room for Monroe, but they still maintained his G-League rights. The Aussie forward even played Thursday night for Long Island, and can return once they reopen a roster spot with Monroe’s eventual waiver.
D’Angelo Russell, an All-Star for the first time, was drafted by Giannis Antetokounmpo in Thursday night’s All-Star draft. Antetokounmpo and LeBron James served as the team captains.
When discussing Kyrie Irving’s next free-agent destination on NBA TV, former Cavs general manager David Griffin said the Nets were a better fit than the Knicks.
“I think Brooklyn is the fit that’s better for him in terms of his mindset,” Griffin said of Irving, a West Orange, N.J., product who has talked about growing up rooting for the Nets. “I think he likes what they’ve done there, culturally. I think that’s why Boston spoke to him as well.”