The Brooklyn Nets may have some competition in their rumored pursuit of another lottery selection.
According to Jake Fischer on The Stein Line, in addition to the Nets, the Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder are believed to be interested in trading up.
“Like the Thunder, Orlando and Brooklyn have also been mentioned by rival executives as teams to monitor for potential trades up into the late lottery,” Fischer wrote.
Brooklyn currently possesses picks eight, 19, 26 and 27. Theoretically, the Nets could move one (or multiple) of their later first-rounders attached to Cam Johnson to get a deal done. The Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets have both been mentioned as teams interested in acquiring the veteran sharpshooter Johnson, and own picks nine and 10, respectively.
Orlando likely doesn’t pose much of a threat compensation-wise outside of its cast of young talent, but Brooklyn must be aware of Oklahoma City. The Thunder, currently competing for the franchise’s first NBA title, are completely stacked with young pieces and draft capital.
Oklahoma City could package multiple players, potentially including last year’s lottery selection Nikola Topic (who missed all of his rookie campaign due to injury) and 2022 lottery selection Ousmane Dieng on top of countless future first round picks.
If the Thunder’s interest in adding a late lottery pick this summer is real, the Nets are unlikely to be able to match the kind of compensation the Western Conference powerhouse could offer. Obviously, if Johnson is the centerpiece of a potential deal due to Houston or Toronto’s interest, then Brooklyn has nothing to worry about.
Unfortunately, until June 25, all of this is speculation. Since the regular season ended, reports have emerged suggesting Brooklyn will chase Giannis Antetokounmpo, target restricted free agents with its league-leading cam space and add another lottery pick to its repertoire. In a realistic scenario, only one of those three things happen, although many have predicted this will be the craziest summer NBA fans have witnessed in years.
Should the Nets fall in love with another prospect projected to land in the top-14, they’ll have to outbit the Magic and Thunder to get their guy.
