Nets dangling pick, Landry Shamet in effort to trade up (Report)

The Brooklyn Nets are one of many teams looking to trade up in the 2021 NBA Draft. They are even willing to give up Landry Shamet to do so.

The Brooklyn Nets have not held onto a first-round draft pick since 2018. According to a report from Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer, the Nets are trying to move up in the first round of the 2021 NBA Draft.

“Houston (Nos. 23, 24) and New York (Nos. 19, 21) have continued their efforts searching to jump into the teens, while Brooklyn also appears active in talks to move up from No. 27, with the Nets offering sharpshooting guard Landry Shamet, sources said,” Fischer wrote.

This would be a changeup from what Brooklyn’s strategy has been in recent years. In fact, they traded away the 19th pick in last year’s draft (Saddiq Bey) for Shamet.

The three-year guard averaged 9.3 points per game on 38.7% three-point shooting in his first year with the Nets. With that said, Shamet can be extended by the Nets and he will become a restricted free agent in 2022. The Nets could be targeting a similar player who would be less of a burden on the team’s long-term cap space.

This upcoming draft class is creating a ton of buzz. Obviously, the Nets don’t have the firepower to trade all the way up to the top of the draft to nab a guy like Cade Cunningham or Jalen Green.

However, this is a deep class with potential difference-makers in the late teens and early 20s. Brooklyn is going to be a top-heavy roster with the big three of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden eating up so much of the cap space. Adding legitimate rotation players on affordable rookie contracts is one way to build a sustainable contender.