Should the Nets be worried about their 2025 NBA Draft class?
The Brooklyn Nets came away from the 2025 NBA Draft with arguably the most divisive performance due to the players they drafted along with using all of their picks. Brooklyn made sure to prioritize players who could begin their careers as ball-handlers with the potential to be more for a rebuilding Nets squad, but there seems to be plenty of people criticizing Brooklyn's decisions.
"I got some people telling me some things about Brooklyn, people are making fun of these draft picks," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said (h/t to Bleacher Report's Doric Sam) during the broadcast of the NBA Draft when discussing the selections that the Nets made. One of the most-criticized decisions that Brooklyn made was selecting BYU guard Egor Demin with the eighth overall pick, much earlier than most of the draft experts expected.
Windhorst continued by saying "I got people saying to me, executives and agents, they're like, 'I was watching them play three two-way guys during this year so that they can clap for taking the guys they've chosen.' He's like, 'These two-way guys might be just as good as the guys they've taken.'" As Windhorst referenced, the Nets played a lot of guys last season and most of them are perceived to be players who may have a hard time sticking around the league.
In total, Brooklyn drafted Demin, French guard Nolan Traore (19th overall pick), UNC forward Drake Powell (22nd as part of a multi-team trade with the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics), Israeli guard Ben Saraf (26th), and Michigan forward Danny Wolf (27th). Based on mock drafts, it looks like the Nets reached on Demin and Powell while the other three selections seemed to be about where they were expected to go.
For a team like Brooklyn, getting their first star player in the draft is key to the franchise progressing through this rebuild in a way that allows them to think about being a playoff team within the next few seasons. Many, if not all, of the players that the Nets took are projects, but if a couple of them pan out, this could be a draft that got everything started for Brooklyn.
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So, how were the Suns supposed to push the Rockets to give up more? Even if Durant was Suns-or-bust in 2023, the Nets had already waited out Durant's trade request the previous offseason, and Durant still had 3 1/2 years left on his contract at the time. They could have just not traded him, having plenty of time to play chicken with new Suns owner Mat Ishbia. Phoenix didn't have that luxury now. I was surprised they couldn't get Cam Whitmore or Tari Eason. This is KD. But I wasn't shocked, because the Rockets had a better hand than Miami and were looking at a different version of Durant than any other team. GO FURTHER Did Kevin Durant's Suns departure leave Phoenix with enough for rebuild? Vince Bucci / AFP via Getty Images PHOENIX — On Aug. 19, 1996, the Phoenix Suns moved on from a memorable chapter in their history. They had just traded aging superstar Charles Barkley to the Houston Rockets for four players. At a news conference at America West Arena, the newcomers sat, left to right, forward Mark Bryant, guard Sam Cassell, forward Robert Horry and forward Chucky Brown. The Suns that afternoon promised a new basketball style, one built upon defense and tempo. Assistant coach Danny Ainge compared Barkley, who had led the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals, to a Rolls-Royce. Four years earlier, team president Jerry Colangelo had acquired this fancy car at a good price, Ainge said. 'After he got good use from it, he sold it for a profit. And he had to sell it because the warranty was running out.' In a similar franchise-altering move, the Suns on Sunday traded superstar Kevin Durant to those same Rockets for guard Jalen Green, small forward Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in this week's NBA Draft and five second-round picks. Like Barkley, Durant, who turns 37 in September, might be slightly past his prime. But unlike Barkley, his basketball warranty still has plenty of life. Durant remains one of the game's elite scorers, a perennial All-Star and devastating closer. His three seasons in Phoenix reflected as much, if little else. How the Suns got here is a lesson in roster construction and patience. Read the rest of my story here. GO FURTHER Suns' trade of Kevin Durant begins what could be a difficult stretch in Phoenix Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images The Suns seemingly imposed a deadline on themselves of getting a Kevin Durant trade done before the NBA Draft on Wednesday. Why? It's a great question. You can question a lot of things the Suns are doing under owner Mat Ishbia and company these days with that simple 'Why' instead of making it a complicated query process. They were able to meet their own arbitrary deadline by reportedly agreeing to a deal with the Rockets Sunday morning. I'll remind you that the Rockets went into this deal owning the Suns' first-round picks in 2025 (10th), 2027 and 2029, thanks to a deal with Brooklyn. This is the breakdown of what's headed where: Rockets receive: Kevin Durant Suns receive: Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, 10th pick in 2025 draft, five future second-round picks Yep, that's it. No offense to Green, who I do think has a lot of talent and can be a good player, but this is an atrocious haul for even a soon-to-be 37-year-old Durant. Brooks will be a useful veteran for them. They can probably get a good player in the draft with the 10th pick. The five future second-round picks don't mean much until we know what they mean. The Suns didn't get any of their future picks back. They didn't get Jabari Smith Jr. or Tari Eason or even Reed Sheppard or Cam Whitmore! How is this the haul you get when you have other interested teams? This is what happens when you decide you need to rush this deal to get it done before the draft. This is also what happens when you hire the fourth-most successful coach in Dayton University history, who also has zero NBA front office experience, to handle this situation as your lead executive. If this is what it looks like when Ishbia is more involved as an owner, the rest of the league is going to be licking its chops at any potential deals. Teams will also start circling around wondering if/when Devin Booker might want out of town some day. This is an excerpt from The Bounce, The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Michael Owens / Getty Images It's official: The New Orleans Pelicans have the worst injury luck in NBA history. They traded away the Pacers' 2026 first-round pick four days ago when they thought it would be in the late 20s. That's far less likely if Tyrese Haliburton misses significant time with this Achilles injury. Reacquiring their 2026 first-round pick gives the Pacers the potential option to 'gap year' tank for a season, in theory. Realistically, there is still far too much talent on hand to pursue this option. The Pacers were barely outscored in the non-Haliburton minutes in 2024-25, the East looks to be Charmin' soft once again and Indiana presumably will acquire another guard. Maddie Meyer / Getty Images Myles Turner might be the most contentious free-agent negotiation of the summer. Between his unrestricted status, the lack of competing cap-space teams, the Pacers' accomplishments this season, Indiana's potential tax and apron issues if it pays him big money and the fact his deal cannot be extended before he hits free agency … all the ingredients seem to be there for a prolonged staredown that ends with hurt feelings. Turner's BORD$ value is $31 million; while there is no chance of him getting this much in a market with no viable alternate suitors, it does indicate a figure for the Pacers to at least approach if they want him to sign for multiple years. Is three years for $75 million to $80 million fair? Even at $25 million a pop, Turner's next deal would take the Pacers sailing past the first apron and represent a first-ever foray into the tax for Indiana. That's for 2025-26; extending Bennedict Mathurin could push the Pacers to the second apron in 2026-27. Some tough decisions will need to be made at some point about other spots on the roster, but if you're not willing to pay the luxury tax for the franchise's best team in a quarter century, sell it to someone who will. Finally, note that Turner is eligible for a no-trade clause, although I doubt he has the juice to get one. Click here to see the rest of my top 25 free agents this summer. Dylan Buell / Getty Images The Pacers seemed likely to go into the luxury tax to retain center Myles Turner in free agency, and still might head in that direction if Tyrese Haliburton's Achilles injury is serious. By declining a $2.9 million option on Tony Bradley, using their 54th pick on a player who makes the rookie minimum, adding two other veteran minimum contracts and only carrying 14 players on the roster, Indiana would be $17 million from the luxury tax line before it re-signs Turner. Of perhaps greater significance, the Pacers would be $25 million from the first apron. Even if Turner makes more than $25 million in the first year of his new contract, Indiana has some outs if it wants to avoid paying luxury tax in a Haliburton-free season. The Pacers could try to sell high on Obi Toppin's $14 million a year deal and move 2023 lottery pick Jarace Walker into his role, for instance, especially if they could get another point guard in return. That injured player exception the Pacers could receive if Haliburton is ruled out for the 2025-26 season could be recycled into a new exception. Trading Toppin for a player an on expiring deal could generate a $14 million exception for Toppin that the Pacers could use in the 2026 offseason. For instance, imagine a deal where the Pacers send Toppin to Houston (or, more likely, to a third team) in return for a future first-round draft pick and old friend Aaron Holiday, who is on an expiring deal worth $4.9 million if the Rockets picked up his option (which they must to execute this trade). Holiday's expiring contract would qualify it to go into the Haliburton disabled player exception, and Toppin's outbound contract would create a new exception worth $14 million. The Pacers would be $26 million below the tax line after the trade and $34 million below the first apron, likely enough to accommodate re-signing Turner and either avoid the tax entirely or only pay a modest amount. The finances get more complicated if the Pacers try to sign a free agent guard with their nontaxpayer midlevel exception (capping them at the first apron). That could require a hard decision on whether to cash in their Bennedict Mathurin stock before he's due a rich extension that hits the cap in 2026-27. Indiana is eligible for a $22 million injured player exception if a league physician determines Tyrese Haliburton is likely to miss the entire 2025-26 season, including playoffs. However, the exception still counts toward the tax and aprons. That the Indiana Pacers lost the title to Oklahoma City on Sunday almost felt secondary when compared to the injury to their franchise player. Tyrese Haliburton suffered an Achilles tendon injury, according to his father, John, as relayed by the ESPN broadcast. The injury is to the same leg he'd suffered a strained calf muscle just a few days earlier. Assuming that's correct, Tyrese would likely miss all of the 2025-26 season. It threw what had been a brilliantly executed piece of short- and long-term roster construction into chaos. How can the Pacers overcome this? In the short term, it seems impossible. The Pacers had been set up for a two- or three-year window with their core group, while many of their potential opponents in the East faced either significant injuries to key players or, in the case of the New York Knicks, the fallout from players after firing a popular coach. Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, sixth-man extraordinaire T.J. McConnell and reserve forward Obi Toppin are all signed through the 2027-28 season. (McConnell has a partial guarantee of $5 million in the final year of his deal.) Forward Aaron Nesmith is signed through 2027. Fourth-year forward Isaiah Jackson, who missed most of this season after his own Achilles tear, will be a restricted free agent this summer. Bennedict Mathurin, another contributor off the bench, had some big moments in the postseason and will hit restricted free agency next summer. But there's no replacing Haliburton's rare abilities and face-of-the-franchise qualities, even as Indiana's front office, led by Pritchard and Buchanan, built a championship-level franchise around him — despite never having a top-five pick. Read more here. GO FURTHER Tyrese Haliburton's injury obscures the Pacers' magical run — and their future Justin Ford / Getty Images The Oklahoma City Thunder are now authors of one of the greatest seasons in NBA history after narrowly avoiding a stunning upset with the opponent's best player first hobbled then seriously injured. The Thunder won the franchise's second championship — and first since it moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008 and rebranded from the SuperSonics to the Thunder — by capturing Game 7 of the NBA Finals over the Indiana Pacers 103-91 on Sunday. The game featured a potentially devastating Achilles injury suffered by Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton in the first quarter. Haliburton, who had been playing with a strained right calf since Game 5, fell without contact as he was attempting to dribble past Gilgeous-Alexander and immediately pounded the court in agony without getting up. A replay showed his already injured calf ripple as he fell, and Haliburton's father, John, told the ESPN broadcast that the injury was to his son's Achilles. A non-contact injury, after a strained calf, immediately sparks fears of a torn Achilles, a la Kevin Durant in the 2019 finals. 'What happened with Tyrese, all of our hearts dropped,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA with dramatic play after dramatic play. It was just something that no one's ever seen and did it as 1 of 17. You know, that's the beautiful thing about him. As great a player as he is, it's always a team thing.' Check out our live blog for more NBA Finals reaction. GO FURTHER Thunder win first NBA title since relocating to OKC, hold off Pacers in Game 7 Getty Images After its titanic roster teardown at the 2021 NBA trade deadline, the Orlando Magic front office earned a reputation around the league as risk-averse. Magic officials built the nucleus of their roster through the draft, adding Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. Orlando made a few trades here and there, none of them franchise-altering. But rival teams cannot call the Magic apprehensive anymore, not after what they did on Sunday. Orlando traded for hard-nosed, floor-spacing wing Desmond Bane by sending four future first-round picks, a lightly protected 2029 first-round pick swap, veteran wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and guard Cole Anthony to Memphis. It wasn't quite an 'all-in' move, but it sure is close to one. Read more below. GO FURTHER Desmond Bane trade shows Magic's days of playing it safe are over Getty Images You normally wouldn't suspect the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies to be trade partners, since in many ways, the teams are birds of a feather. Both teams weathered multiple injuries en route to first-round playoff exits, both teams have young-ish rosters they're still figuring out but have now become expensive and, most importantly, both teams have the same strengths and weaknesses: A lot of defense and not much shooting. Nonetheless, the Magic and Grizzlies cut a big deal Sunday, one that may be revelatory about the next steps for both teams and the mindset of where they stand. In essence, it was a challenging trade regarding the value of Desmond Bane to a contender on his current contract. Orlando's project still felt too undefined as it waited and waited to push its chips in, with too many random guys and not enough starter-level talent; Memphis, on the flip side, felt too boxed by Bane's salary and the team's lack of transactional flexibility. Read more below. GO FURTHER In Desmond Bane trade, Grizzlies and Magic make opposite bets for the future Getty Images Our first big summer move that doesn't involve a coach being fired, or the New York Knicks calling about a coach under contract, just happened. The Memphis Grizzlies have shocked a lot of people by agreeing to trade Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four unprotected first-round picks and a first-round pick swap. That's a lot of draft capital for Bane, and the Magic are hoping he'll be a great complement to their young duo of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. A complement to this trade news is a set of trade grades, where we'll slap down some red ink and figure out if we're complimenting one or all sides of the deal. Read more about the trade grades below. GO FURTHER Desmond Bane trade grades: Magic, Grizzlies swap guards, but did Orlando give up too much? Getty Images Before there was Kevin Durant getting dealt to the Houston Rockets, the NBA trades didn't stop. The first major trade of the offseason was the Memphis Grizzlies sending Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony and draft picks. Read The Athletic 's Josh Robbins for all the details and analysis from this trade. GO FURTHER Grizzlies trade Desmond Bane to Magic for Caldwell-Pope, Anthony, picks
