Not a single Sean Marks-led Nets draft has come and gone without major movement. Not one. This year doesn’t seem any different.
The Nets have the No. 27 pick, and three more second-rounders: 44, 49, and 59. But moments change quickly around draft time, with the ultra-active Marks having made deals in or before all five of his drafts. The feeling around the league is there’s little chance the Nets stand pat with all four picks.
The Post has reported that the Nets have looked to move up in Thursday’s draft by dangling off-guard Landry Shamet, and that little-used DeAndre Jordan could be on the trade block. They could be moved separately, although now there are rumblings that they could be involved in the same deal.
The Nets have been in discussions with multiple teams about a swap of first-round picks and a possible salary dump of Jordan, according to SNY, including at least one three-team deal. The Nets package could be centered on Shamet.
The report identified the Lakers and Mavericks as being interested in a deal. The Pelicans — who have the No. 17 pick, and ex-Nets assistant general manager Trajan Langdon as GM — are also interested in Shamet.
Jordan has two years and $19.7 million left on his deal, but did not play in the Nets’ last 16 games.
Shamet is still on his rookie contract, but he’s extension-eligible and it’s no guarantee the Nets will pay. They have until Oct. 18 to decide, and could opt to use him to land a pick, move up in the draft or even help get away from Jordan’s bloated deal.
Despite averaging just five points shooting 28.6 percent from deep through his first 16 games as a Net, he settled in and averaged 10.8 points on 40.8 percent from deep over 45 games the rest of the way, more in keeping with his career 39.7 percent shooting.
The Mavs don’t have a first-round pick Thursday, but do have firsts in 2022 and ’24. And with the Nets not having control of their own first-rounder until 2028 thanks to the James Harden trade, that could be attractive.
Brooklyn could combine Shamet as a sweetener with its pick to move up to the Lakers’ No. 22 pick, or potentially even the Pelicans’ No. 17 selection. New Orleans is also interested in Spencer Dinwiddie, should the Pelicans decline to match an offer sheet for Lonzo Ball and fail to get Kyle Lowry.
The Lakers desire shooting. They have little else to offer after shopping Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to no avail. The Knicks — who have tons of cap space, as well as picks Nos. 19 and 21 — had interest in Shamet at the 2020 trade deadline when he was with the Clippers.
The Nets worked out Kentucky’s big man Isaiah Jackson, and have been heavily linked with Stanford’s Ziaire Williams and UNC center Day’Ron Sharpe. But it’s no certainty that they stay at No. 27, at least based on past history.
Just a few months onto the job, Marks traded Thaddeus Young to get the pick used on Caris LeVert, and bought a second-rounder to take Isaiah Whitehead. The next year it was dealing Brook Lopez and the No. 27 pick (which became Kuzma) for D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov. A year later he moved the unmovable, foisting Mozgov on Charlotte for Dwight Howard, who promptly got bought out.
In 2019 Marks executed the Allen Crabbe salary dump, bringing back Taurean Prince. That paved the way for the Big 3, with the two max-salary spot enabling them to land both Durant and Irving while Prince got used in the Harden deal.
And there was last season’s three-team deal that brought back Bruce Brown and Shamet, who could figure heavily in Thursday’s dealings.