Report: Nets Trading Tyler Zeller to Bucks

The Nets and Bucks pulled off a trade as the deadline approaches.

The Nets and Bucks have agreed to a trade that will send Tyler Zeller to Milwaukee, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. 

Brooklyn will receive a second-round pick and Rashad Vaughn in exchange, according to Wojnarowski.

Zeller signed a two-year deal with the Nets before this season and is owed $1.9 million next season. He is averaging 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per game as the Nets’ starting center, though the Nets have recently been starting Jarrett Allen at the 5. The trade should also provide an opportunity for Jahlil Okafor, acquired in a trade with the Sixers earlier this season, to see more playing time. 

Vaughn, a 2015 first-round pick, is averaging 12.3 points per game in limited action this season. 

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The draft pick going to the Nets is a little complicated. The Bucks already traded their 2018 second-round pick to the Suns in the Eric Bledsoe deal but Phoenix only receives that pick if it falls between 48th and 60th. If the pick falls between 31st and and 47th, the Nets will get it. If the Suns get the 2018 pick, the Nets get an unprotected 2020 second-round pick, Wojnarowski reports. 

The Bucks are looking to separate themselves from the pack in a crowded Eastern Conference. Milwaukee (29–23) is fifth in the conference but just 2 1/2 games behind the third-place Cavaliers and three games ahead of the eighth-place Sixers. 

This year’s NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.