While Kevin Durant broke the internet, the Nets traded for Royce O'Neale
The Brooklyn Nets are the chaos engine driving the 2022 NBA offseason.
Since the 2021-22 season ended with the Golden State Warriors hoisting the trophy the Nets once hoped would be theirs, Brooklyn has been the epicenter of off-court madness. Kyrie Irving, briefly the center of sign-and-trade speculation, asked the world to call him brave after accepting a $36.5 million player option for the upcoming season. Patty Mills, the steady backup point guard who’d started 48 games last winter as the unvaccinated Irving sat, quietly opted out of his $6 million deal for 2022-23.
This was merely the table setting before a juicy main course ready to dominate the entire July 4 holiday weekend. Kevin Durant, with four years remaining on his current contract, wants to leave New York.
The Nets don’t have to honor his request, but it seems likely general manager Sean Marks will. Marks and his executive team know they’ve got one of the most valuable assets in the league on the market. They can extract a king’s ransom in exchange.
On top of that, they’ve now got a forward capable of absorbing some of the minutes Durant left behind. Moments after the news broke that the former MVP was planning his exit, reports broke that Brooklyn had added Utah Jazz three-and-D specialist Royce O’Neale.
O’Neale can’t replicate what Durant brings to the table. In three seasons as a starter for the Jazz he’s averaged just 6.9 points per game in more than 30 minutes per appearance. But he does give the Nets a dogged defender whose 3.3 defensive win shares in 2020-21 ranked sixth in the NBA — just ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo. He could pair up with Ben Simmons (who is feeling incredible if his social media is to be believed) to create an imposing force on the wings capable of muting the impacts of Eastern Conference stars like Jayson Tatum and Khris Middleton.
Of course, the question now is who else will join them in this theoretical starting lineup. Will thought leader Kyrie Irving still want to be a Net without Durant (the prevailing thought is no)? Which players will Marks target when shopping his All-Star forward? Will another superstar be headed east, or will Brooklyn settle for draft picks and rising talent?
These are all very good questions for the front office whose moves will define the 2022 NBA offseason. The Brooklyn Nets are a mess, which tracks nicely with everything that’s happened to them the past three years. Untying the knots they’ve created will reshape the Eastern Conference.
Their first move was to acquire O’Neale. That’s merely the calm before the storm in New York.