In a series of unexpected moves Friday afternoon, Sean Marks remade a big part of the Nets roster, dumping DeAndre Jordan for two young bigs, waiving Alize Johnson and bringing back LaMarcus Aldridge on a vets minimum deal. The details:
- Sean Marks reportedly traded Jordan to the Pistons, along with four second rounders — only two of their own —along with $5.78 million in cash. In return, the Nets get 20-year-old forward Sekou Doumbouya and Jahlil Okafor. The fate of Doumbouya and Okafor remains uncertain. The two have a combined salary of $5.7 million, $3.6 million of which is Doumbouya.
- Of the four seconds sent to Detroit, only two are the Nets own picks: the 2022 and 2027 picks. The other two, in 2024 and 2025 were acquired from the Wizards and Warriors in sign-and-trades for Spencer Dinwiddie and D’Angelo Russell.
- The Nets waived Johnson, who was non-guaranteed and on the second year of a three-year deal.
- Then, in the least unexpected of the Friday moves, the Nets resigned Aldridge, five months after he retired because of a heart issue and a day after it was reported he has been cleared to return to action.
Most pundits thought Marks would buy out the 33-year-old Jordan. Instead, he was able to trade him and perhaps get a return as well as significant savings in luxury taxes the Nets will have to pay next July.
Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news in a series of tweets late Friday afternoon.
Nets send Pistons their own 2022 and 2027 second-round picks, a 2024 second-rounder via Wizards and a 2025 second via Warriors, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 3, 2021
The Nets plan to waive forward Alize Johnson, sources tell ESPN. The Nets are fond of Johnson, but are loaded at his position and will allow him to play elsewhere.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 3, 2021
After retiring with heart concerns five months ago, seven-time All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge is returning on a one-year, $2.6 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets, his agent Jeff Schwartz of @excelbasketball tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 3, 2021
Woj and Shams Charania reported that Jordan will, after the Pistons buyout, head to the Lakers. Jordan’s off-season home is in Malibu. The news, of course, comes one day after Shams Charania reported that Paul Millsap has agreed to sing with the Nets for the vets minimum. Millsap has already posted an image of him in a Jean-Michel Basquiat-inspired jersey and thanked the Nuggets and their fans following four years in the Mile High City. That deal has not yet been official.
This story will be updated.
