Celtics Win Trade Between Nets And Pacers

The Brooklyn Nets have gotten themselves into the pre-draft trade bonanza, reportedly sending forward Thaddeus Young to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for the 20th pick in tonight’s draft and a future second-round pick. To the Pacers I say, “So you just traded for Jeff Teague and Thaddeus Young this week? Huh. Okay. I’m into it!” To the Nets I say, “Ha!”

As you are surely aware, the woebegone Nets have spent the last few years trading away just about every draft pick they have in exchange for players who collectively turned into a bag of mashed-up butts. They won just 21 games last year, and now the rebuild appears to be on.

Well, not really. Even if the Nets score a nice young player with the 20th pick tonight, they still have nothing coming their way in terms of draft picks for the next two years. Boston has the right to swap first-round picks with them next season, and also owns their 2018 first-round pick. They don’t even have second-round picks in 2017 or 2018. It’s hard to rebuild when you have no dang picks, you know?

Maybe the Nets will be able to ship out their remaining semi-useful players for more picks, but right now the big winner of today’s trade is the Celtics. With Young gone and Brook Lopez likely following him out of Brooklyn, that 2017 pick swap could see the Celtics sitting near the top of the lottery. That’s a pretty great come-up for a team that is already lousy with draft picks and good, young players.

[ Yahoo]

Photo via AP