The Brooklyn Nets are struggling tremendously early in the 2022-23 season. At 6-9, they’re on the outside looking in of the playoff picture and have experienced a ton of inconsistency.
After firing Steve Nash as head coach and facing several other roadblocks, at some point the roster itself needs to be shaken up if things don’t turn around.
If that happens, one team that could step in is the Oklahoma City Thunder. They’ve got a couple of veterans that could help Brooklyn get back on track.
One of these veterans is Kenrich Williams, who has a ton of value as it relates to winning. In fact, during the last two trade deadlines he was a player that contenders around the league tried to trade for. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands to make an impact and also does things that help beyond the box score.
A two-way player, he’s a solid defender but also has knocked down 38.3% of his attempts from beyond the arc over the past three seasons. He’s still just 27 years old and is truly entering the best part of his career.
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Oklahoma City values his presence on and off the floor, but could also be willing to part ways with him for the right deal. Williams just signed a new team-friendly contract extension worth $37.2 million over four years.
While the Nets don’t have a ton of center depth, a player like Nic Claxton could potentially pry Williams away from the Thunder. At 23 years old, he fits a position of need in Oklahoma City but is also on the right timeline for a rebuild at his age.
Again, this would deplete the center rotation in Brooklyn, but perhaps playing small with Ben Simmons and others could actually be a style of play that works.
It would take both teams really wanting to shake things up, but swapping these two players in a larger package could be mutually beneficial. Due to both of these players recently signing new deals, this could not actually go through until closer to the trade deadline.
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