Nets Trade with Rockets Among Most Impactful Offseason Moves

The Brooklyn Nets shook things up in a trade with the Houston Rockets.

Jan 27, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Houston Rockets forward Jae'Sean Tate (8) looks to drive past Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) in the fourth quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The Brooklyn Nets had a transformative offseason where they officially committed to a rebuild by trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks.

But there was one trade made just before that triggered the Bridges blockbuster: a pick swap with the Houston Rockets.

In the deal, Brooklyn sent a 2025 first round pick swap (Houston/Oklahoma City for Phoenix), the Phoenix Suns’ 2027 first round pick and a the rights to the two most favorable of the Dallas, Phoenix and Houston first round picks in 2029 to the Rockets for control of their next two draft picks in 2025 and 2026.

Bleacher Report writer Dan Favale named the trade one of the 30 most impactful offseason moves.

"Regaining control of their next two first-rounders is the biggest, most important move the Brooklyn Nets made this summer. Make no mistake, the Mikal Bridges trade was splashier. But it arguably doesn't happen if the Nets don't recapture the incentive to rebuild—to tank—for the next two years," Favale writes. "Brooklyn extracted enough from the New York Knicks to ship out Mikal Bridges independent of its own draft obligations. The Nets might make that deal no matter what happens with the Houston Rockets. But that doesn't discount the value of having your own firsts outright in 2025 and 2026. Until proven otherwise, those are Brooklyn's primary building blocks."

Considering the fact that this move had a domino effect for other trades to happen down the line and knowing that this deal will have an impact for the rest of the decade and beyond certainly earns a spot on this ranking.

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