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On Saturday afternoon, the Brooklyn Nets shook up the NBA world by trading point guard Dennis Schroder to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for De'Anthony Melton and draft capital. The move was a clear signal to the rest of the league that Brooklyn has no intentions of trying to compete for anything this year and instead will be sellers at this upcoming trade deadline.
Schroder was playing arguably the best basketball of his career so far this year for the Nets, averaging north of 18 points and six assists per game on efficient shooting from the field, including nearly 40 percent from beyond the three point arc.
Schroder had helped the Nets pull off some surprising wins in the early portion of the season, including road victories over both the Phoenix Suns and, ironically, the Warriors themselves, which may have motivated the Nets' front office to try not to win too many games so as to ruin their potential draft prospects.
With that being the case, there is now considerable speculation about what the Nets will choose to do with some of their other tradable pieces.
Nets next trade
Los Angeles Lakers receive: Cam Johnson
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Brooklyn Nets receive: D'Angelo Russell, Jalen Hood-Schifino
Perhaps the most obvious candidate to next be traded to the Nets is swingman Cam Johnson, who remains one of the elite three point shooters in the NBA and is also versatile defensively, able to guard positions two through four on that end of the floor.
All things considered, Johnson is the exact player archetype that many teams around the NBA are coveting in the new era of “positionless” basketball, and there may not be a team more desperate to make a move than the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers are currently mired in mediocrity for the second straight year, floundering in the Western Conference standings as LeBron James continues to produce at an elite level just a couple weeks away from turning 40 years old. There is perhaps now more pressure than ever on the Lakers' front office to at least look like they're trying to make something of their current situation, and a trade for Johnson might be one of the most realistic avenues they have toward improving their roster.
While a return for D'Angelo Russell may not make a ton of sense for a rebuilding Nets team in the short term, there is inherent value in his expiring contract, and the team would also have a chance to develop Hood-Schifino in a much more relaxed situation than what he is currently dealing with in Los Angeles.
This trade would allow the Nets to further embrace their rebuild while giving the Lakers an important piece that addresses some of their most glaring weaknesses.
