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How the Nets took a Big 3 dream and turned it into a decade-long nightmare.
Crack open that 40 and pour one out, because the Nets’ big-three dream is officially dead. Okay, well, it died last year when James Harden wanted out and Brooklyn had to accept Ben Simmons in a horrific deal that never panned out — but the death knell really came overnight when Kevin Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns less than a week after Kyrie Irving was dealt to Dallas.
This was a legendary failure. A two-plus year experiment which resulted in two first round playoff losses, and a third where the Nets made it to the conference semis before getting dispatched. It’s not just a factor of Brooklyn’s inability to win a championship, but everything they gave up to reach this ineptitude, and what they walked away with as a result.
You’re really not prepared to see what they gave up and got in totality — because I wasn’t.
What it took to get Kevin Durant
D’Angelo Russell, Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham in a sign-and-trade deal with Golden State which also got the Nets a protected 2020 1st round draft pick.
Durant signs a 4-year, $194,219,320 deal.
What it took to get Kyrie Irving
The Nets didn’t need to trade anything for Irving, singing him in free agency to a 4-year, $132,490,600 deal.
What it took to get James Harden
This was unquestionably the most convoluted and expensive part of the Nets assembling their big three. It was a multi-team deal, so here we go.
Nets send Jarrett Allen and Taurean Green to Cleveland. Caris LaVert, Rodions Kurucs, three 1st round picks (2022, 2024, 2026), and four 1st round pick swaps (2021, 2023, 2025, 2027) to the Rockets.
Brooklyn gets James Harden and a 2020 2nd round pick.
So let’s look back on everything they gave up to reach this point…
D’Angelo Russell, who’s been a solid starter
Shabazz Napier, a mid-level role player
Jarrett Allen, who turned into an All-Star last year in Cleveland
Caris LaVert, who has been a valuable role player
Taurean Prince, who has been a mid-level role player
Tari Eason (from the 2022 draft) who is a developing rookie
Two more 1st round picks to come
Three more potential pick swaps
Now we get to the trades that sent away the big three
Kevin Durant was recovering from injury during the 2019-20 season, but the Nets managed to have moderate success. However, it was Harden who wanted off the ride first in 2021-22.
The James Harden trade
In February of 2022 the Nets traded James Harden and Paul Millsap to the 76ers for:
Ben Simmons
Seth Curry
Andre Drummond
2022 1st round pick (deferred to 2023)
2027 1st round pick (Top 8 protected)
The Kyrie Irving trade
Last week Irving demanded a trade before the deadline and was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks along with Markieff Morris. The Nets got in return:
Spencer Dinwiddie
Dorian-Finney Smith
2029 1st round pick (unprotected)
2027 and 2029 2nd round pick
The Kevin Durant trade
With the big three now decimated, Durant wanted out. In the early hours of February 9th he was traded to the Phoenix Suns along with T.J. Warren for:
Mikal Bridges
Cam Johnson
Jae Crowder
Four 1st round picks
2028 pick swap
The dust now settled, here’s everything that went in to assembling and breaking apart the big three
I know this is exhausting, but here we go.
In totality the Nets gave up:
D’Angelo Russell
Shabazz Napier
Jarrett Allen
Caris LaVert
Taurean Prince
Three 1st round picks
Four 1st round pick swaps
And ended up with …
Ben Simmons
Seth Curry
Mikal Bridges
Spencer Dinwiddie
Dorian Finney-Smith
Cam Johnson
Jae Crowder
Five 1st round picks
A 2028 pick swap
Two 2nd round picks
You might look at this and think it’s really not that bad, but this total deal is pretty dicey. Brooklyn didn’t end up with a single All-Star, despite trading away three of the best players in the NBA. Yes, technically you could say Ben Simmons is, but at this point it doesn’t look like he’ll ever return to form.
To be fair, Brooklyn did do a good job to re-acquire draft capital, but they still have to give up picks to come — and with how much this team will likely struggle, they’ll be giving away lottery picks in exchange for picks in the 20s. The team got back a lot of good role players, but that’s it. Unless this team is able to sign a star free agent they will be irrelevant for the rest of the decade.
This experiment went wrong for so many reasons. It was a transparently foolish attempt to sell the teams soul to win a championship with three players and bad depth, and it blew up as soon as any of the stars were injured or missed games. Three teams got drastically better at Brooklyn’s expense, and they got a lot worse.
The situation now isn’t completely dire — but it’s definitely ugly. Hopefully this failed chapter will team the team to stop chasing a championship with desperate moves, and instead build a complete team while hoping their picks can blossom into stars.
Whether or not the organization is patient enough to execute on this remains to be seen.
