DeMarre Carroll has been linked in trade rumors this week, alongside teammate Joe Harris, as first reported by ESPN's Zach Lowe. Carroll was originally linked to the Miami Heat, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald and while Brian Lewsis of The New York Post has confirmed the Nets won’t be shipping Carroll to Miami for Tyler Johnson and Justise Winslow, both players admit it’s a distraction the Nets will have to diffuse at some point.

“[It’s] human nature,” Carroll told Lewis. “But the really good players, the really good teams, they look at it in a positive manner, in a professional manner. Us as an organization and as representatives of the Brooklyn Nets, we’ve got to look at it in a professional manner.

Carroll's agent, Mark Bartelstein, said the Nets aren’t shopping his client, but his name also had been linked to the Detroit Pistons and the New Orleans Pelicans along with Miami.

The 31-year-old forward is averaging career-high numbers across the board with 13.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game, while still being very serviceable at the defensive end.

After two underachieving seasons with the Toronto Raptors, Carroll has found a revitalizing light to his game with added minutes — playing 29.4 of them while logging all 50 starts for the Nets this season.

Carroll can appeal to a team like the Pistons, who recently lost two of their best shooters in the starting lineup and mustered a $5.2 million disabled player exception for the injured Jon Leuer.

The Pelicans also find themselves as suitors after losing DeMarcus Cousins to a ruptured Achilles, a sizable double-double now scratched from the box score in a tough Western Conference.