Nets looking to trade up in draft, won't deal future picks

Since joining the Brooklyn Nets organization as general manager when they were still in New Jersey in July 2010, Billy King has had little use for draft picks beyond their value as trade currency.

Of the players on the team's roster at the end of the season, only Mason Plumlee, Bojan Bogdanovic, Markel Brown and Cory Jefferson were drafted by King, with Brook Lopez standing as the only draft pick left over from the previous regime. Bogdanovic is the only first-round pick made by King on the team.

Facing a potentially tumultuous offseason with little flexibility, the Nets are turning their attention to the draft for a change. Not only will King no longer look to deal future first-rounders – they already owe their 2016 and 2018 first-round picks to the Boston Celtics and the Celtics have the option to swap picks in 2017 – but they may also look to move up in the 2015 NBA Draft.

As King explained Wednesday:

I don't expect us to be trading any (of the team's future picks). We've done that.
...
And I will say that we’re trying to move up in the draft. We’ll explore options to get higher. … We already know of some teams who maybe want to move their pick so we’ll be talking to them next week.

Not moving a future pick should be easy – teams can't deal future first rounders in consecutive seasons, so the earliest Brooklyn could send out a pick is 2020. They could still make a 2015 first-round selection and trade the player afterward, but King's desire to move up makes that sound unlikely.

The Nets have already, in effect, moved down in the draft this year. The Atlanta Hawks own the right to swap picks with them and will do so, meaning the Nets' rightful No. 15 slot will go to the Hawks, leaving the Nets to pick 29th.

Brooklyn also has the No. 41 pick as an asset to sweeten the deal but are limited in terms of future second-rounders, with teams owning the right to swap in 2016 and 2018, and their picks owing outright in 2017 and 2020.

All of that is to say, the Nets need to nail their picks this year, because there aren't many more coming in the immediate future.

The 2015 draft is considered to be relatively strong but there may not be a difference-maker available at the end of the first round. King said the Nets will draft for talent over a potential positional fit, so where they're able to move up to will likely dictate their strategy more than any perceived holes on the roster.