Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

When the Nets get a top 4 pick in the 2025 draft everyone will be saying 'see Stone gave up a top pick for no reason!'

The reality is it would have been the ~9th pick since the Nets would not have tanked if they didn't have their own picks coming back.

I would have liked to see them get more from the Nets but let's be clear, the Rockets were not getting Cooper Flagg with the Nets pick.

 

I think this is such a misguided thing Stone is doing. He just gave up better picks IN ADVANCE for the chance to have just an edge in Durant negotiations.

The Nets just dumped their best player after a bad season. Their picks are gold. If we don’t get Durant with these picks, this trade will have set us back.

My instinct says Stone’s ego is not handling well the fact that Udoka is more influential than him now, so he wanted to do something that makes him look smart.

Very strange situation. The Suns picks won’t be good unless we’re lucky. The Nets picks were going to be 99% good.

I guess at least he didn’t trade 5 first round picks for Bridges.

 

See, this pisses me off. The Nets potentially have 4 first round picks next year in a very strong draft and the Rockets have none.

 

I think Rockets have intel that the suns are going to blow it up. If that happens… they might suck even worse than the nets. They also pick up additional draft capital. This can work out pretty damn well.

 

After a deep look at this trade, I actually love it! We get more assets and they fit our timeline so much better.

 

Wtf lol… sure if we can rewind the clock back and get a prime KD but at this point he’s not doing much for you other than scoring.

 

I have absolutely no idea what the 27 draft will look like (nobody does), but I think it's quite possible we have 2 lottery picks that season. I think Phoenix is gonna implode sooner rather than later. Also, without the reason to tank Brooklyn wouldn't, so more likely their pick ends up in the 8-14 range than 1st overall the next 2 seasons.

I think in the long term this will be a net positive in pick value, but there are so many unknowns. The fact that we gave up 2 knowns (likely pretty good Brooklyn picks) it's a big gamble.

 

Im usually not a guy who supports this type of talk...

 

It's interesting that this was decided one day before the draft.

Maybe a larger trade involving these picks could be in play tomorrow.

 

Reminder that the Rockets at one point were in a dire situation, after trading away Harden, and owing a lot of picks to the Thunder. They were at one point, easily the most coveted picks in the league.

Now those Rocket picks and pick swaps to the Thunder are not worth much, and never amounted to much. The reason was simple, the Rockets had a clear path to tank, maximised that tanking window and drafted well, and got out of it before the picks converted.

In a vacuum, which picks were originally more valuable, the Rocket's picks given to OKC, or the Nets picks given to the Rockets?

The idea that the Nets would actively suck for the Rockets is wishful thinking, Bridges was clearly part of the trade to get their picks back. The Rockets only got a 3rd pick from the Nets because the Rockets hit jackpot, and jumped from 9th to 3rd (only a 20% chance of jumping to top 4). If the Nets remain 9th-11th seed, is a 9th pick (the likely pick) for the next 2-3 years at all valuable to the current Rocket's team?

 

The news is so fragmented I may have misunderstood the trade.

If we traded 1 pick and 1 swap for 2 picks and 2 swaps then it’s still not good imo but the damage is minimal.

 

I don't really have an opinion on the trade yet. At first glance it seems to be lateral at best.

But I do believe we don't want that many more young players and thats one of the reasons for this trade. With Green, Sengun, Bari, Tari, Cam and Amend and possibly Sheppard/Clingan on the roster, we want to fill out the remaining roster with veterans and preferably stars. So basically we don't want to go the OKC route.

And having high picks while already being really competitive is extremely valuable (when you have no cap space left to do anything).

So I don't know if this was a good trade for us and personally I would kinda prefer to keep drafting young players instead of trading for older guys. But I am ok with this.

 

The Mikel Bridges trade to the Knicks has given Brooklyn 4 unprotected 1st round picks and other picks. Although most of them can be low, they have recovered somewhat. Perhaps, the Suns will want their picks back along with Jalen Green...

Don't trade Bari or Tari/ Cam or even Amen Thompson for Booker. Sengun must be retained as well. We don't need KD.

 

Keep in mind that we still have the Nets '27 swap, which will be worth more after this trade, now that they will be rebuilding. That is another positive from the trade. I'm not saying I like the trade, but it is what it is.

 

Something to note (warning: confusing Stepien rule stuff):

After today’s Brooklyn trade, even though we got back extra assets - they are not well aligned to be tradable because of the Stepien rule.
Since we traded the 2026 pick back to Brooklyn and our own 2026 pick is owed to OKC, we do not currently have a pick in 2026.

The Stepien rule means that we then cannot trade a 2025 pick, and can trade only 1 of our picks in 2027.

However, if we acquired a 2026 pick, it would “unlock” those 2 extra tradable picks going forward.

I dread it, but for this reason I have increased suspicion of a trade down from #3 targeting an extra pick in 2026.

This pick would have to be unprotected - protected picks don’t satisfy the Stepien rule. Memphis, OKC could be the counterparty.

Also, a deal with Philly not including #3 could be possible. Philly has a 2026 worst of OKC/HOU/LAC pick that would be perfect since it’s very low value but meets our Stepien rule need.

 

Yeah I get what you mean but it’s not better than keeping the picks or throwing a wrench in the Bridges trade with only two years remaining on his contract.

Basically in my eyes we didn’t have to do anything to ascend to contention except develop our young players well. Now we’ve made it so that if we don’t acquire a star, we have lost assets for an unrealized risk.

The other thing is I’m not so sure I believe the Nets will tank and rebuild for years. Maybe one season. I think they go star hunting immediately and by 2027 will win 41+ games. That’s a desirable market for FA’s and a generous owner in Brooklyn. They aren’t as reliant on small market strategies as most.

I’m worried this has a lot to do with Udoka feeling jealous of Mazzula. We seem to be more desperate to acquire a star after they won. I’ve been saying for ages Stone will see Udoka as stealing the owners ear from him. I’m not getting a good feeling from the way they’re behaving. Hopefully I’m just being paranoid.

 

Stone is gonna be bashed in the next year Draft Day.

 

and ‘retimed’ picks…

 

Durant like Harden is an idiotic option to give anything up for.

Those aging divas split at any adversity at any time...are much worse personalities than LerBon and Bron is hated here.

Booker is not consistently great enough but can still get better.

 

I think this is part of their plan to retain the core 6 (or 7) long term. Adding a top lottery pick in 2025 and 2026 would make retaining the young core more difficult. I think the rockets are happy with where they are right now. I don’t believe the Durant interest. I think that is just a sexy headline for the media to keep people speculating.