The Brooklyn Nets may not have been in the LeBron James sweepstakes, but his move still nudges their future in a direction they can use.
ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported Friday that James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million deal, with a player option in the second season. For Brooklyn, the immediate reaction is less about missing out and more about what Philadelphia’s upgraded roster could mean down the line.
The Nets already control the 76ers’ 2028 first-round pick, as long as it lands outside the top eight. That pick came to Brooklyn in the trade that sent James Harden to Philadelphia and brought Ben Simmons to the Nets during the 2021-22 season.
Philadelphia would only keep that pick if it falls into the top eight, and the James addition makes that outcome look less likely. The 76ers finished with the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference at 45-37 and reached the second round of the playoffs, and now they’re adding James and Jaylen Brown to the mix.
Brooklyn’s draft outlook is already in decent shape. The Nets are set to have two first-round picks in 2027, their own and one from the New York Knicks, and two more in 2028, their own and the one from Philadelphia.
Philadelphia could have taken a different path with Paul George nearing the end of his career, but instead the 76ers capitalized on the Boston Celtics looking to move Brown. For the Nets, the end result is simple: they look even more likely to land that extra first-rounder in 2028.
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The problem, from a Brooklyn perspective, is what those choices say about the direction of the rebuild. Adding a veteran like Randle can help in the short term, but it also raises the same old question about how many development reps are really left for the younger players the Nets are supposed to be building around. In a division where other teams were judged more favorably, Brooklyns offseason was left with a grade of D, a reminder that the front office still has work to do to make the plan feel coherent. [Read more 🡒]