2024 NBA Draft: Brooklyn Nets’ first round passes without trade
Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images
This article was updated throughout Wednesday night, where a journey of speculation and almosts ended with...nothing. News has already started to roll in as the 2024 NBA Draft kicks off. It started with a bang: the Brooklyn Nets re-signed center Nic Claxton to a four-year deal for an annual value of $25 million ($24 million guaranteed), ending any possibility of a sign-and-trade. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first with the news:
Nic Claxton intends to a sign a four-year, $100M to return to the Brooklyn Nets, sources tell ESPN.— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2024
We will be updating this article with whatever else the Nets do on Wednesday night, the first night of the draft, which will feature the first round only.
The Draft comes 24 hours after the Brooklyn Nets shipped Mikal Bridges across the East River for a billion picks, then exchanged some of their Phoenix Suns draft capital for the privilege of controlling their own first-rounders in the 2025 and 2026 drafts — completely transforming the future of the franchise in a span of 15 minutes.
While the Nets have a clear direction now, and I’m excited about it, only time will tell if these choices are fruitful. A multi-year rebuild in the NBA is a daunting proposition that puts fans through a whole lot of losing, and as such, can only be judged on the end result, not the process.
But that process started in earnest on Tuesday night and it will continue at the Draft on Wednesday. Brooklyn still has veterans that will not help them lose such as Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dennis Schröder.
Look for GM Sean Marks to be working the phones regarding that trio — and possibly new/old friend Bojan Bogdanović, the matching salary in the Bridges deal — to potentially slide into the first round on Wednesday night.
There will be well-defined inflection points tonight, starting with the Memphis Grizzlies at #9 and the Sacramento Kings at #13, two playoff-hopefuls in need of help on the wing, the former having been linked in trade rumors to the Nets in recent weeks.
We’ll be updating this article throughout the night, and should Brooklyn make a splash and select a player on their home floor of the Barclays Center, we’ll let you know here, and have a separate article to boot.
Now buckle up for the ride that may or may not be coming.
Update: Ron Holland off the board at #5
Trajan Langdon, who worked under Sean Marks in Brooklyn from 2016-2019, has made his first move as President of Basketball of Operations for the Detroit Pistons, who selected G League Ignite forward Ron Holland with the #5 pick.
Holland was ranked the no. 2 player in the high school class of 2023, but was frequently reported to be in danger of falling down the board in the pre-draft process. If he had made it to #9 or #13, he was a prospect the Nets could have swooped in to take. Now, that won’t be happening, as Holland-to-Detroit is the first swing-moment, if you will, of tonight’s first round.
Update: Memphis takes Zach Edey at #9, Sacramento still in play
The Memphis Grizzlies have taken Purdue center Zach Edey at #9, likely removing any possibility of a trade with the Brooklyn Nets for that pick. Edey’s transition to the NBA has been theorized to no end, but next to Jaren Jackson Jr. and with Ja Morant as a pick-and-roll partner, that’s a good place to start. At age 22, he makes much more sense as a contending Grizzly than as a rebuilding Net.
The other piece of news that just occurred is this tweet from Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee...
I’m told the Sacramento Kings are still engaged in trade talks involving the No. 13 pick in the NBA draft. The two names I’m hearing right now: Washington Wizards small forward Kyle Kuzma and Brooklyn Nets small forward Cameron Johnson.— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) June 27, 2024
It appears the Sacramento Kings are very much in play, still, as a potential trade partner for the Brooklyn Nets. Sacramento owns the #13 pick in Wednesday’s first round, and as a potential benchmark, the Wizards traded defensive-minded wing Deni Avdija to the Portland Trail Blazers for this year’s #14 pick and a future first-rounder.
Cam Johnson is a more offensive-minded wing — and older — than Avdija, but it’s easy to imagine him contributing to the Kings roster, should he get dealt.
Update: Sacramento Kings take Devin Carter at #13
While there appears to be a ton of logic to the Nets and Kings linking up on a trade, it appears it will not be tonight, nor for the #13 pick, which the Kings have used to take Devin Carter.
Carter has been a late-riser throughout the draft process, but is ultimately a 22-year-old, defense-first, 6’3” combo guard, not quite the type of prospect you’d expect Brooklyn to swing on in the first round, helping to kick-start their rebuild.
The wait continues, though another trade between the two coastal teams could materialize.
Update: Rest of first round passes quietly
The ride never came.
As of midnight on Thursday morning, about an hour after the 2024 NBA Draft’s first round concluded the Brooklyn Nets have not followed up on the massive Mikal Bridges trade, their deal with Houston, and their re-signing of Nic Claxton.
30 picks were made, and Brooklyn did not acquire any of them, despite reports and intel that there were serious discussions with Sacramento around the the #13 pick. After Jason Anderson’s tweet, linked above, Adrian Wojnarowski hinted “significant trade talks” when the Kings picked Devin Carter...
Kings have had significant trade talks around No. 13, but focused on Providence's Devin Carter, source tells ESPN.— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2024
That was the last of it, though. Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dennis Schröder, as well as the rest of Brooklyn’s roster, remain in place as the team moves squarely into a franchise-altering rebuild.
It’s not a total surprise that the Nets did not make a move into the first round on Wednesday, though it would be a bit more unexpected if the same happens during the second round, which will begin on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ET, broadcast from ESPN’s Seaport Studios in Lower Manhattan.
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