Grading Brooklyn Nets-Detroit Pistons DeAndre Jordan Trade
The DeAndre Jordan era in Brooklyn is over. Once thought to be part of a package deal when the Nets landed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency in 2019, Jordan had gradually fallen out of the rotation, and it's become clear that, unlike his two superstar buddies, he isn't a part of Brooklyn's long-term plans. Now, general manager Sean Marks has found a taker for the remaining two years and $20 million on Jordan's contract.
As first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Nets are sending Jordan, four future second-round picks and $5.78 million in cash to the Detroit Pistons for journeyman center Jahlil Okafor and third-year forward Sekou Doumbouya. Wojnarowski also said the Pistons are planning to buy out Jordan, who plans to then sign with the Los Angeles Lakers (as seemingly every other big-name veteran buyout has this summer).
For both teams, the motivation to do this deal lies much more in the future than in the present, but here are the immediate grades for the move.
Brooklyn Nets
For team governor Joe Tsai's bank account, this deal is an A+, as the Nets will save nearly $50 million in salary and luxury tax. But those savings aren't going to translate into more cap space, since the Nets already have Durant signed to a max extension. They plan to finalize extensions with Irving and Harden before training camp later this month.
Any free-agent help is going to come from bargain-bin signings, like Thursday's deal with Paul Millsap. And on Friday, Woj reported that LaMarcus Aldridge has been medically cleared to come out of retirement and that he will rejoin the Nets.
It's for the best that Brooklyn moved on from Jordan. His role and minutes had become a point of contention with former head coach Kenny Atkinson, who was fired shortly before the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020. Jordan started 43 games last season under new head coach Steve Nash, but he had fallen out of the rotation by the playoffs and was a "DNP-Coach's Decision" in both rounds of the postseason.
At 33, it was unlikely that he was going to become an important player for a team that had just signed or re-signed three other frontcourt players (Aldridge, Millsap, Blake Griffin) and had promising young big Nicolas Claxton, who earned consistent minutes in the playoffs.
In Okafor, who played in 26 games for the Nets during the 2017-18 season, Brooklyn will get another big body for the frontcourt. The career of the 2015 No. 3 overall pick hasn't gone the way most expected it would when he was a heavily hyped prospect coming out of Duke, but Okafor has stuck around as a capable backup big.
He won't get a ton of minutes in a crowded frontcourt, but there won't be much of a drop-off from what Jordan was giving them at nearly $10 million per year. And Okafor will be making the league minimum. And in Doumbouya, the Nets are taking a flier on a once-promising young big who has plenty of physical tools but hasn't made a mark in Detroit.
The Nets' return isn't terrible considering their other option was just buying out Jordan themselves, but four second-round picks is a lot to give up for a team with such a top-heavy roster that will need low-cost avenues to bring in young talent as Durant, Harden and Irving continue to be paid huge money.
Grade: C
Detroit Pistons
By trading Doumbouya, Pistons president of basketball operations Troy Weaver has gotten rid of the last remaining player on the roster who preceded his hiring in June 2020. The longest-tenured Piston is now 20-year-old Killian Hayes, last year's seventh overall pick.
Weaver will be building the core of the team around this year's No. 1 overall pick, Cade Cunningham. Other young prospects on the roster, including Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart, showed much more potential to be long-term pieces thanย Doumbouya in a season in which player development was a primary goal.
Even with Jordan's dead money on the books for the next two seasons once his buyout is complete, cap flexibility isn't an issue for the Pistons. Cunningham ($10.1 million), Jerami Grant ($20.0 million) and Kelly Olynyk ($12.2 million) are the only players making over $10 million next season, and Detroit (20-52 in 2020-21) is still far away from contending, even with Cunningham in the fold.
Detroit wins the trade simply by getting four future second-round picks to take on a player Brooklyn was going to have to get rid of anyway. Since those picks are from the Nets, they'll probably be in the mid-to-late 50s, but having more selections to play with will be helpful in future trades as Weaver continues to remake the roster around Cunningham. They also cleared a roster spot, which could come in handy for future trades as well.
Grade: B
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