Nets Article Sparks Debate on Worst Trade in Franchise History

The Pierce-Garnett deal is generally regarded as the winner (or loser), but a recent article says otherwise.

Unknown Date & Location, USA; FILE PHOTO; New York Nets forward JULIUS ERVING in action while the Nets were members of the ABA (American Basketball Association). The Nets later became part of the NBA after the ABA's final season in 1976. Erving won three ABA most valuable player awards. Mandatory Credit: Photo By Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports (c) Copyright Malcolm Emmons / Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Every NBA team has that one trade that makes you scratch your head, the deal where maybe in the moment or at some point down the road you ask, Why on Earth would you ever make that trade?

For the Brooklyn Nets, most fans point to the deal made in June 2013. The Boston Celtics went an dealt future Hall-of-Fame forwards Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn for four first-round picks. Now that the Celtics are NBA champions (with players drafted using the Nets' picks), it seems like this deserves the stamp of approval for worst trade in franchise (or even league) histpry.

However, a recent article says otherwise. Dominic Chiappone of The Lead, in a piece on the worst trade in Atlantic division history, claimed that Brooklyn's most faulty move was not the one that occurred 11 years ago, but rather nearly five decades ago. Chiappone listed the Julius Erving-76ers trade as the worst in Nets' history.

Dr. J to the Sixers is the Nets' worst trade in team history?? https://t.co/WbAIhVWVfZ pic.twitter.com/o8XxejaSGi

— Nets Lead (@NetsLead) July 23, 2024

The move occurred in October 1976, when the New York Nets had recently become the New Jersey Nets after the ABA-NBA merger. Erving, the face of the ABA, was on a team hemorrhaging money to be in the NBA, as each franchise cut its own deal with the league.

New Jersey's deal stated they owed the NBA $3.2 million by September 15, 1976, which, according to Harlon Schreiber of HoopsAnalyst, comes to about $14.8 million in 2020. The team also owed the Knicks an additional $4.8 million to be in such close territory with the franchise.

This meant that Nets were forced to flip Dr. J to the Philadelphia 76ers for $2.5 million in cash. New Jersey wouldn't find much playoff success until they acquired Jason Kidd and made back-to-back NBA Finals runs in 2002 and 2003, while the 76ers won with Erving at the helm in 1983.

Is it a bad trade looking back? Of course. The Nets traded their franchise cornerstone for what is equivalent to $11 million today. But it was a move waiting to happen after the circumstances of the merger forced New Jersey to give the NBA a boatload of cash right after they moved out of the ABA.

Take a look at the Nets-Celtics trade from 2013, and you'll find that it's a heck of a lot worse:

Nets receive: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry, DJ White, 2017 first-round pick (traded for D'Angelo Russell), 2017 second-round pick (Aleksandar Vezenkov)

Celtics receive: Keith Bogans, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Kris Joseph, Gerald Wallace, 2014 first-round pick (James Young), 2017 first-round pick (Jaylen Brown), 2018 first-round pick (Jayson Tatum), 2018 first-round pick (traded for Kyrie Irving)

With the Hall-of-Fame duo in their twilight years, the Nets got a season out of Pierce and Garnett together before falling into the worst situation possible: losing for years without a draft pick. The Celtics, on the other hand, went through a quick rebuild before becoming a playoff team with Isaiah Thomas, and eventually drafted two All-Stars who would eventually win them the most recent NBA championship.

Neither team was forced to make a move, there was no owed money involved, and it was in a relatively modern NBA. Context matters, and after Tatum and Brown, who could've so easily been in Brooklyn had that trade not occurred, won the 2024 NBA championship, the 2013 deal has to take the cake pretty easily.

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