The Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets have just agreed to make the first big trade of the 2018 offseason. Embattled center Dwight Howard will now don the Nets' colors after the team sent Timofey Mozgov, a couple of second rounders, and cash considerations over to Michael Jordan's squad.
The deal works for both teams. Charlotte gets some tax relief while the Nets position themselves for an intriguing future thanks to Howard's expiring deal. Jason McIntyre speculated in his article for The Big Lead that Brooklyn had just positioned itself for a huge summer in 2019.
By trading Timofey Mozgov and his terrible contract to Charlotte for Dwight Howard, the Nets will now be able to afford two max contracts in 2019, when several big names could hit the market: Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Kyrie Irving, and of course, LeBron James.
Half those guys could be on the move THIS summer and be taken off the board, but it matters not to the Nets. My guess is the guys they want to target is Kyrie Irving and his buddy, Jimmy Butler.
Irving has been non-committal whenever talking about his future with the Boston Celtics. He's been long enamored by the prospect of playing near his hometown of New Jersey, and he'll have the opportunity to do that if he opts out in 2019. Butler has the same option and with the way things are going right now in Minnesota, the Timberwolves star may very well look for a fresh start somewhere else.
Interestingly, Butler has said in the past that Irving is the player he'd like to team up with someday. Whether that happens in Brooklyn or any other place, only time will tell.
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