The Brooklyn Nets (9-19, 13th in the Eastern Conference) has had an up-and-down season to this point, but they appear to be catching their stride as of late. Brooklyn began the 2025-26 NBA campaign looking like one of the worst defenses in league history, but they have turned it around on the defensive end of the floor. The Nets still have to make some decisions before the trade deadline, however.
“Pickings remain slim for the Brooklyn Nets after filtering out first-rounders and the rookies other teams would actually want,” Dan Favale wrote for Bleacher Report when describing what Brooklyn’s best trade assets are. Favale listed forward Michael Porter Jr., center Nic Claxton, and forward Haywood Highsmith as the top-3 assets for the Nets heading into trade season.
With the Nets in rebuilding mode, it’s hard to see a world that they don’t try to trade some of the veteran players on the team in an attempt to get more draft picks or younger players with upside. There has been plenty of speculation about which players on Brooklyn’s roster are likely to finish their season elsewhere, but the cases for Porter and Claxton being gone could come down to what kind of offers the Nets are getting for them.
NBA insider Chris Haynes has already reported that the Golden State Warriors have trade interest in Claxton as they are looking for athletic big men that can impact the game on both ends of the floor. To that point, there aren’t any reports on what a team like the Warriors would give up for Claxton or even what rival teams would give up for someone like Porter, who is having the best season of his career.
As of this writing, it seems that the most likely player to be traded away could be guard Cam Thomas, given that he has played just eight games this season and is playing on a one-year, $6 million qualifying offer (QO). Analysts like ESPN’s Bobby Marks have already said to expect Brooklyn to be active in trades involving Thomas so it’s possible that he could go before Porter, Claxton, or Highsmith are under consideration for any trade offers.