Can the Brooklyn Nets pull off these BLOCKBUSTER trades? Is a messy Cam Thomas breakup inevitable?

Can the Brooklyn Nets pull off these BLOCKBUSTER trades? Is a messy Cam Thomas breakup inevitable?

Coming up, what star trades could the Nets target in the near future? How will Cam Thomas navigate this season? What will another Brooklyn tank look like? I’ll answer all those fan questions and more after this. You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked On Nets podcast right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Nets beat reporter for clutchpoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen of the day. This show is 100% free on all those great platforms. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA atmononey.com for 50% off your first year. And on today’s show, it’s fan take Friday. I took questions and takes from listeners on a wide range of subjects, including star trades, Cam Thomas, rebuild strategy, and more. So, let’s get right into it. Taking these in the order that they came in, no particular order. First question might be a topic for next off season, but who is a disgruntled star? Shawn Marks might look to trade assets plus Michael Porter Jr’s expiring contract for maybe Zion Williamson, Lorie Markin, Scotty Barnes, LaMelo Ball, or do you see Marks resigning MPJ on a more appropriate contract if he has a successful 2026 season? It’s kind of just tough with the Stark trade conversations. I get so many questions from fans about it because it seems like there’s obviously a, you know, eagerness for, you know, the Nets to get back into that conversation because fans want to see relevant basketball, exciting basketball. They want to have a player like that who they can latch on to. And right now, I’m just not sure that I see anybody, you know, as a clear target for them. Like I went through the Zion Williamson question on my last fan take Friday and I said that I just don’t think that he’s a Shawn Marks guy. Like could he be available for trade? I think that’s pretty realistic. Would the Nets be a team that could be in on him? Maybe they’ll check in. But just the issues that he’s had on and off the court from a durability standpoint, from a commitment standpoint, from some of the controversial, you know, things that have sp, you know, come up or embarrassing off-c court things that he’s had to deal with. I just don’t think that it’s the type of player that Shawn Marks wants to go after. the other guys you named like Lori Markin, Scotty Barnes, uh LaMelo Ball, like Scotty Barnes, I’m not crazy about his contract and I don’t think the Raptors are trying to trade him anytime soon. They’re clearly, you know, trying to compete and obviously like there’s a new regime there after Messiah Jiri got fired. But they made moves where they are trying to compete this coming season. So, I don’t think they’re moving off of Scotty Barnes who’s like their young building block guy right now. Lori Markin, I like Lorie Markin. I think he’s a really good player. the contract extension that he get got gives me a little bit of pause. Could he be a target for the Nets? Like maybe he’s young enough, but I’m not sure that he’s a player they’re eager to trade a lot of assets for right now and kind of expedite their timeline somewhat and pay him a large uh percentage of the salary cap. LaMelo Ball, I’m not a LaMelo Ball guy. I mean, I like watching him play sometimes. He has really exciting moments, but he just needs to prove the like that he can play a serious season of basketball first. He’s got to stay healthy. Hasn’t been healthy in like three seasons now. And there’s obviously just a lot, you know, a lot of the aspects of his game need work, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. So, I think I lean towards the latter of what you said. You know, do you see Marks resigning MBJ on a more appropriate contract? Like, I think that’s definitely a possibility. I think they could, you know, extend him after, you know, the next two seasons on a more reasonable amount and then they could look to flip him after that, maybe keep him or they could just look to flip him as an expiring contract. There might be a team who’s looking to clear money off their books. there might be a team that has some legitimate interest in him where the timeline you know works out a little bit more there or if we are going to talk about is a disgruntled star and this you know factors into the next question so I’ll take the next question here if you could realistically target one player to establish Jordi Fernandez philosophy on this team who would you target and what would you trade to acquire him it’s kind of a loaded question and if you’re saying a player who’s going to establish you know or like solidify Jordi Fernandez philosophy and the way that he wants to do things like I would assume that would be a star player and not just like a middling guy. So, you know, if we’re talking about what disgruntled star might become available, who I could see the Nets targeting, what, you know, player could establish a, you know, philosophy and a culture under Jordy Fernandez here, I’d say, you know, continue to say that Giannis and Tennupo is the guy who I could at least talk myself into and who makes the most sense for the Nets, at least from the perspective of if you’re going to push your chips in, if you’re going to expedite your timeline, if you’re going to do some of these things, Giannis is at least still a top three forward player in the NBA. And if you’re talking about stars who could realistically be available, like I think Giannis is going to be on that list because while he committed to uh the Milwaukee Bucks for the start of this season, that’s just not a good situation in my opinion. I don’t think they have any chance of re like actually contending this coming year and they just kind of blew up their future to, you know, waving and stretching Damen Lillard. I just thought it was kind of an asinine move in my opinion to bring in Miles Turner, who I like as a player, but is he going to put them over the top? Would I have done that after what he showed, you know, in the finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder? No. And I just think it’s a desperate move. They’re obviously trying to get Giannis to do anything they can to try to convince Giannis that they’re all in on, you know, making it a better situation for him. But I just think that situation’s cooked. And I think he could be available. If you’re talking about a player who you could at least, there’s a rhyme and a reason and a logic of pushing your chips in. Even if I don’t think it’s the best path for the Nets, Giannis and Tennakupo is still a top three to four player in the NBA who is in his prime, although getting to the latter stage of his career. So that could make some sense in my opinion. Next question. Do you predict the Nets will do a better job at tanking this year compared to last? I do. And you know, I’ve voiced my gripes with how the Nets went about their tank last season, them holding on to some of their veterans into the year, you know, not really going all in on the tank. it seems like until the pretty much the very end of the season when it was all said and done. And maybe it wouldn’t have mattered because maybe they were never going to finish ahead of teams like the um Utah Jazz or Washington Wizards or whoever else you want to say, but like they could have done a better job with it last year in my opinion. They could have showed a little bit more urgency and I think that they’ve already taken steps that tell you that that’s going to be the case this season whether it’s, you know, getting rid of or not getting rid of. They had, you know, their veteran point guards and ball handlers. They obviously traded the guys they did at the beginning of the year last year, sending out Dennis Shruder, sending out DFS. They got DLO back. They don’t bring DLO back. They could have brought him back. They didn’t do it. They, you know, draft five players in the draft. There’s obviously a youth movement there. They don’t have a veteran point guard or a really proven playmaker, facilitator, ball handler on this roster. The guys that they have who are proven, you know, shot creators and somewhat of offensive engines are Cam Thomas and MPJ. and not even really MPJ because MPJ was mostly a spot-up shooter in Denver. It’s really just Cam Thomas who now is going into the season on a QO which really, you know, completely just muddies what his future with the team is going to be. And I think he could probably be traded in the middle of the year. So, you’re going to have a lot of time where rookie guys are handling the ball. Whether it’s Jay Gordman, whether it’s Nolan Troy, Ben Saraf, there’s just going to be a lot of rookie ball handling. There’s going to be a lot of growing pains. And I think that that in itself will lend itself to more losses and a better tank out of the gate compared to last year because last year they started off 9 and 11. That’s really what killed them and put that put them behind the eightball and then they had that stretch later in the season where they won, you know, a few games in a row and that really killed them. Outside of those two stretches, they were one of the worst teams in the league. So I think it’s going to be better out of the gate this year in terms of the tank. I think that they’re going to lose more games. And I also think that you have five rookie first round picks who I think fans are going to be excited to watch even if they struggle, which I fully expect them to do. There’s going to be things that in markers that you’re looking for in their development, which is much more exciting in my opinion than what we had to look at last season with just a lot of guys who you knew were going to be off the team. And there really wasn’t too much reason to be watching a lot of these games. Even if the Nets are bad this year, fans will have a reason to watch these games with those rookie guys playing a lot of minutes. And also, I think it’ll be interesting to see how Michael Porter Jr. fits in with this team in kind of a new role. So, I think more interesting storylines in this year. I think the Nets have already set themselves up for a better tank and the big the biggest reason for that is they’ve taken away even more shot creation and just veteran um you know semblance of you know veteran leadership on offense without without Dennis Shruder without D’Angelo Russell and swiping Cam swapping Cam Johnson for Michael Porter Jr. I just think that it’s going to be much cleaner this year than it was last year. Last question before we go to a break. The Nets will have hund00 million in committed salary next summer. There are also very few free agents who will be truly available then. Do you think they want Cam Thomas to play this season fully healthy and then extend him using Bird Rights next off season? I don’t think that’s the case. Am I going to say that there’s like 0% chance that that’s the case? No. Because there’s definitely like there could be a possibility that the Nets just didn’t want to bid against themselves. Cam took the Qo and if they like what they see from him this season, maybe they could look to extend him using his bird rights. Like that’s a possibility. I’m not going to say that there’s no chance. I think it’s highly unlikely at this point. I think that I’ve outlined it on my emergency pod after Cam took the QO and a few other times that I just don’t think that the Nets are a Cam Thomas team. I think they’ve continually signaled that. I think comments that Shawn Marks have signaled that. I think the way Shawn Marks and this team drafted signal that. And I just think we’re to a point now where all the signals are saying that Cam isn’t the type of player and the archetype that the Nets are going to prioritize. And I think also Cam wants to have a certain role. Cam wants a certain amount of money and I just don’t think the Nets are going to give it to him. I think the relationship at this point, I’m just not sure if it’s at a point where they’re going to be able to move forward and I’m not sure that the Nets or Cam even really want to. I mean, if the Nets were willing to pay Cam, I’m sure he would be willing to and he would want to, but I just I don’t really see the appetite being there on the Nets end. So, I think that Cam’s going to play this season in the beginning of the year. I’ve said I think the most likely outcome is a mid-season trade. I think that makes the most sense for both parties. I don’t think the Nets will get much for him, especially considering the team um who trades for Cam will go from having his full bird rights to his non-bird rights. So, that team, the most they’ll be able to offer him uh in a contract is like $7.5 million. So, Cam is probably going to change teams in unrestricted free agency next summer, regardless of whether or not he gets traded this year. And I just think I just think it’s the best path forward for both teams. I don’t really see them resigning him. And I could be wrong, but uh time will tell. We got a lot more questions. More Cam Thomas questions, more rebuild questions, and then also some potential roster cut questions. We’ll have all that here on Locked on Nets when I continue the show after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at Monarch Money. Guys, most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there’s Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Guys, Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you’ve ever put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. 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Rolling on through more of your guys’ questions and takes. Next one. What is the possibility of Cam Thomas having his minutes cut in Brooklyn? If so, how long before it becomes a distraction for this Brooklyn Nets team? This is going to be, you know, one of the top questions for me and storylines entering the year because I think it goes without saying that Cam Thomas isn’t happy about having to take a one-year $6 million qualifying offer. And I think it kind of goes without saying also that the Nets have far less incentive now to feature him and give him a featured role than they did before. I mean, I’ve said, you know, I posed the question on my emergency pod with Mike Scott. What is the Net’s incentive to play Cam Thomas this season and feature him ahead of some of the rookie guys and other young players that they have? And the only really the only one that I could really come away with is to trade him and just try to build his value up a little bit and trade him at the deadline. But this is a player who hasn’t had any trade value up to this point in his career. He’s truly a rental if a team does trade for him this summer or this uh this season midway through the year because they’re going to have, you know, his non-bird rights as opposed to his full bird rights. I went through that before. So, they can’t really extend him at the number that he’s going to want. So, really, if a team trades for him, it’s a rental. Could I see a team being interested in that? Yes. Because there are some teams throughout the year, playoff teams or teams trying to fight to get into the playoffs who have a need for bench scoring, have a need for shot creation and all that. So, I could see a team being interested. But outside of that, and I don’t even think like building him up to trade him for any like realistically good return is that much of a possibility. The only other incentive I could maybe think of is, you know, Jagor and some of these rookie ball handlers having some shot creation alongside them so they don’t have to shoulder such a heavy burden. But is that necessarily even the best thing for their development because you know that Cam Thomas wants to get his shots up at a extremely high rate? I don’t know. So, I just I don’t know if the Nets are going to cut Cam Thomas’ minutes right away. I think they’ll feature him initially, but as the season goes on, I think it’s it’s going to be harder and harder to justify playing him over these young guys when to me it seems pretty apparent that he’s going to be gone after this season. So, I think there’s a decent chance he could have his minute cut minutes cut at some point as the year progresses. How long before that becomes a distraction? We’ll see. I mean, we’ll see what Cam has to say. Cam’s outspoken. he’s not worried about voicing his opinions and uh sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a bad thing. So, we’ll see how it plays out, but it’s definitely going to be interesting thing to monitor. And another storyline that Nets fans should definitely uh be following. Another Cam Thomas question of a similar ilk. Will the Brooklyn front office allow Cam Cam Thomas to be miked up for media day given how bad the relationship between him and the front office has gotten up to this point? I wouldn’t say that the relationship between the front office and Cam has gotten bad up to this point. Like I just think that he wanted to be paid a certain amount. They didn’t agree. They offered something and he didn’t take it. Like that happens all the time in the NBA. That happens in every business, you know, with all kinds of different jobs. People have disagreements about that. Do I think that Cam and the Nets front office is like a match made in heaven? No. But I think that, you know, they’re on like I don’t think they’re on the worst terms ever. probably I you know what are the chances that they give him a mic at media day I think pretty high because the players who are on the roster have to talk at media day and I think that that is going to be the case for my case uh for my sanity I hope that that’s the case because he’s one of the most compelling players on this Net’s roster in terms of fan appeal so I’ll definitely want to talk to him at media day and also you know the Nets resigned him they posted like the graphic the highlight video and all that so like I do think they’re going into this season trying to act as normal as possible. So, yes, I think Cam Thomas will be talking at media day. Next question. Do you think Dron Sharp, Nick Claxton, and or Cam Thomas will be traded before the deadline this season? Interesting question. Between the three of those guys, if I were going to go in order of likeliest to leak like least likeliest to be traded, I think I would go uh Cam Thomas first, Nick Claxton second, and then Dron Sharp third. And I’ve outlined why I think Cam Thomas is, you know, it could be trending towards a trade for him just with him signing the QO, with him signaling that he’s probably moving on after this season with the Nets just probably trying to find, you know, any value they can for him, even if it’s just like a second round pick or something and him probably wanting to get to another situation that might have more incentive to utilize him. Uh, second, Nick Claxton being just I think the timeline. He’s going to be 27 years old this season. definitely young enough to be a part of the next iteration. Definitely a good basketball player. The Nets could definitely look to move move forward with him. I I’m not, you know, I don’t think it’s all that likely that he’s going to be traded this season. I think the sec the latter two years of his contract where it’s descending more could be more attractive, but you never know. It depends on how some things shake out in the beginning half of the year. And I definitely think timelinewise it would be, you know, it would be more logical probably to trade him as opposed to Dron who they just signed to a much cheaper contract is much, you know, three, four years younger than Nick and is coming off a good season. So, I definitely think like Nick is the better player out of the two between him and Dron, but I just think timeline it makes probably more sense to move on from him and see what you have with Dron and some of the younger guys, you know, given that they just made five first round picks and kind of went all in on a rebuild uh this season. Last question before a break. Is our main goal tanking or developing the players we drafted? Because if it’s the latter, signing Malik Beasley helps in multiple ways. Imagine the space our rookie ball handlers will have with Beasley and MPJ on the wings. Plus, we will be able to flip him come trade deadline. Um, I think the main goal is tanking and developing the players that the Nets drafted uh this coming season. Uh, the me Malik Beasley thing, I brought it up on my last pod because I said, you know, the Nets are going to be around $7 million below the salary floor with Cam Thomas taking his QO and they can fill that by trading for somebody, by signing free agents. Free agents, I mentioned Beasley as one of the guys who’s still available. Do I think that that’s likely? No. I think if that was going to happen, uh, it probably would have happened up to this point. I know that, you know, there’s the whole gambling investigation going on with him that could slow things down obviously in his free agency process, but I’m just not sure like it makes all that much sense for the Nets. I don’t really think it makes much sense for the Nets. Like I understand what you’re saying there. Having better spacing, having a player like Malik Beasley alongside MPJ on the wings, just giving, you know, better shooters alongside a guy like Jay Gordon, it would definitely give him, you know, more space to operate in the pick and roll, more space to get downhill. Same things with Troy and Sarra and those guys. So, I understand that. I do think like Malik Beasley is a very good player though. You know, I think he was second or third in the six man of the year voting last year. Do I think that he’s going to like elevate the Nets a crazy amount if they signed him? No. But I do think like they are still trying to tank this year. I think that uh cap space could be used probably in a salary dump to get some kind of asset. But I don’t I’m not going to say like it’s the worst idea ever getting Beasley. Maybe you can flip him at the deadline. Maybe in the meantime he just helps out the rookies. But I think he’d probably be looking for another um situation and there’s probably another team that would be more more more motivated to pay him maybe with one of even the exceptions as opposed to the Nets. But the Nets are the only team with cap space. can’t rule it out, but I don’t think that that’s all that likely. I think there’s other ways that the Nets probably look to uh get up to that salary floor and spend their remaining cap space. We got a few more questions, a couple more trade questions, a couple roster questions, but I’m going to close out locked on Nets after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at FanDuel. The NFL season is almost here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. 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I said, you know, Andre Drummond and Kelly Ubé, two guys that the 76ers are reportedly trying to get off in order to create some space to sign Quinton Grimes or resign Quinton Grimes and restricted free agency. I could definitely see those guys. I could definitely see uh Anthony Simons, another guy that I talked about, you know, with the Celtics. I think that would probably happen more towards the trade deadline, but I know that the Celtics are probably going to try to be looking to get under the first apron and the luxury tax. Simons is an expiring contract. to god they’ve reportedly shopped around the league since um you know since they acquired him from the Portland Trailblazers in that Drew Holiday trade. So those are some guys I could see like are there other guys who could pop up. We’ll see like the Haywood Highmith thing. I think a lot of people thought knew the Heat were going to be trying to get off money. I think there’s less and less teams that are trying to get off money at this point. But when the when we get to the trade deadline and some teams have a clearer picture of where they’re going to be at as the season progresses. I think that you’ll gain more clarity on some of the teams that could be looking to get off money, reshuffle their books, and that’ll give you some more clarity into who salary dump guys could potentially be. Next question. Do you think Ricky Councel makes the roster? What can he bring to this Brooklyn Nets team? I don’t think Ricky Council makes the roster. I mean, if you look at the Nets roster right now, they haven’t even officially announced the signing. I’m sure they will soon, but you look at the Nets roster right now, like they have 14 guys who are pretty much definitely going to be on and it’s only like one more spot left. And you look at the competition for that last spot, it could be fierce because you have guys obviously like Ricky Council signed. You have Keon Johnson, Jaylen Wilson, Drew Timmy, Tyrese Martin. That’s like four guys all who I think have positives and negatives that are going to be competing for that final spot. And even still, the Nets need to get up to that salary floor. So, they could fill that spot with a salary dump and none of those guys could make the roster. So, we’ll see. I mean, if they were to sign Ricky or if they were to, you know, bring Ricky Council into the season or they could even sign him to a two-way contract. Um, what can he bring to the team? I mean, he’s a ball hand like he’s a guy who has some ball handling and some shot creation ability. Has a lot of athletic pop. I think that’s the biggest thing. He can run the floor. He can, you know, get up off the floor defensively. if he buys in, I think he would have some ability to, you know, squeeze driving lanes and passing lanes and maybe pressure the ball. And I just think there’s potential there with the athleticism, but he hasn’t been a three-point shooter at any point in his career. I think the decision-m offensively has a long ways to go. Maybe the Nets see him as a guy similar to the Keon Johnson mold of a really good athlete who’s had some flashes in the past. They think maybe they can get him more to tap into his defensive upside and his defensive potential and use those gifts and then see if the offensive stuff can come along. Maybe, but I’m not all that high on Ricky Council. I mean, he had an expanded opportunity with the 76ers last season. He didn’t really do much to take advantage of it. They waved him. So, I understand him as a flyer, but I don’t think he ultimately makes the roster. Last question, similar mold. Which non-G guaranteed players do you see returning as a net? have talked about this with in the past, but since then the, you know, roster spots are just becoming more few and far between for this Nets team. And I just said there’s really one spot for these non-g guaranteed guys at this point. There could be none if they bring in another guy, you know, via trade to reach the salary floor. But of the guys, the guys that I think the Nets would be prioritizing, you know, Keon Johnson had the most expansive role out of all those guys last season, so he’s an easy one to say. He’s the youngest of the group. I think he probably has the most upside. Ricky Council also younger. Maybe you can make an upside case there. I like Drew Timmy the best. I would like to see the Nets bring him back. I just think that he is, you know, has really performed well at every step of his basketball journey. And although there’s clear limitations from an athletic standpoint and what he can do at the center position, I just like him as a player. I just think he has the most uh talent and the most feel for the game out of this group. So, he’s the guy I would like to see. But I’d say, you know, if I was going to guess, Keon Johnson, Jaylen Wilson, Drew Timmy, like those three guys are probably at the top of the list. And we’ll see who, you know, maybe it comes down to how they perform in training camp. Maybe it comes down to, you know, what the Nets do outside of those guys in terms of roster moves. And some of those guys can resign the two-way contracts if they’re waved. So, we’ll see how it plays out, but definitely going to be an interesting competition at the bottom of the Nets roster. But that’s all the questions and takes that I got on this fan take Friday. Thank you to everyone who submitted and continues to participate. I’ve really enjoyed doing these mailbag episodes and getting to hear what you guys have to say and, you know, answer some of your questions. But that does it for this episode of Locked on Nets. If you do not already, subscribe to the show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple Podcast or Spotify, if you have a second, smash that like button if you enjoy the content. Leave a comment. Anything you can do to engage is much appreciated. We got a lot more Nets talk coming up, training camp around the corner. I’ll have coverage of all that and more when I’m back on Monday talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater answers questions from listeners about potential Brooklyn Nets blockbuster trades, Cam Thomas’ upcoming season with the team, potential roster cuts, and more.

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