Brooklyn’s net was able to jump the restructuring with a blockbuster deal, but they have to abandon their biggest assets to land Giannis Antetocompo.
Brooklynnet doesn’t celebrate much despite playing in the largest media market in the United States. Their final NBA Finals appearance was in 2003, and they never won the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
That’s not because there are no attempts. In 2019, they added Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and traded with James Harden a few months later, but the injury and the COVID-19 pandemic stopped the team from finding lasting success.
They are expected to make some dramatic offseason moves as the Milwaukee Bucks burn after falling 4-1 to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The forefront will likely trade Giannis Antetocompo, the homemade star who brought the title to 2021. Antetocomo has revealed that he wants to retire in Milwaukee for a long time, but wants to win the title.
The San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets look like the frontlines to land him, but the net can put together a massive trade package.
The net was able to send promising young man Cam Thomas to the Bucks and Nick Claxton via sign and trade.
But they also boast a lot of draft picks. This is the main attraction of doing business with them.
After dealing with the Phoenix Suns and unloading Durant, the Dallas Mavericks went ahead from Irving and shipped Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers, the net ended with 10 first-round picks and swaps. Then this summer they traded Mikal Bridges for the New York Knicks, earning four more first rounders.
Despite not boasting its own superstar, the savvy deal and free agent signatures could lead the net to rank higher, but there is one big catch.
After starting the 2024-25 season higher than expected, the net finished with the sixth-best odds to land the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
If Nets lands their first pick, their immediate priorities are to either get Flaggg organically to Flag or get cash on future assets and win all in and win as Flag is thought to be NBA-enabled from day one.
However, teams looking to do business with the internet want to pry the flag. Giannis is one of enough players to consider in Brooklyn.
“Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Cooper Flag seems like a pretty reasonable gift swap on paper. Is there a 5-year guaranteed All-NBA play, or maybe that, but 15 years of low certainty?” asked CBS’s Sam Quinn. “It depends on the context, but the Bucks in this scenario may prefer the latter. Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey aren’t that intriguing, but they’re plausible centerpieces here.”
Flag is considered a lead for mistakes, but other players were promoted as franchise players like Deandre Ayton and James Wiseman.
There is a risk that Flag never pans out, and despite Antetokounmpo’s 30 years old, many years of MVP basketball remains.
Of course, the net could flip most of the future picks, or flip matching paychecks to the Bucks, combining young studs with established superstars. There is a 9% chance they will land their first pick, which could destroy the league and win their first NBA title.