{"id":233293,"date":"2026-05-15T23:19:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233293\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T23:19:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:19:38","slug":"nets-predicted-to-move-into-the-top-3-of-draft-acquire-former-all-nba-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233293\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets Predicted to Move into the Top 3 of Draft, Acquire Former All-NBA Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">The Brooklyn Nets are currently projected to be the sixth team on the clock on draft night.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">Much speculation has pointed to the team either deciding to move up, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/nets\/onsi\/brooklyn-nets-predicted-to-bring-back-kyrie-irving-in-offseason-trade\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">perhaps even down<\/a>, depending on which prospect the team prefers to draft.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">One scenario could have the Nets <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25427051-new-2026-nba-mock-draft-blockbuster-ja-morant-trade-idea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">move up and acquire<\/a> Ja Morant from the Memphis Grizzlies and the No. 3 pick, which could land Cameron Boozer in Brooklyn. Out would go Nic Claxton, Terance Mann, and the No. 6 pick, Bleacher Report&#8217;s Zach Buckley writes.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">&#8220;If the Grizzlies would be willing to talk shop, the Nets might be all over this,&#8221; Buckley wrote. &#8220;They&#8217;ve been aiming to\u00a0up their <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/16\/sports\/the-nets-plan-to-turn-tank-into-something-else-and-how-long-itll-take\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">competitiveness<\/a>\u00a0next season, and this deal could help make that happen. Morant&#8217;s stock is sliding, but he quietly looked great before an elbow injury ended his season (23.5 points, 9.3 assists over his final six outings).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"77\">&#8220;Boozer, though, would be the bigger prize. He&#8217;s been a decorated winner at every level, and he could be this draft&#8217;s most polished prospect\u2014as an 18-year-old. He can score from all over, make enough reads to serve as an offensive hub and dominate on the glass. And while he&#8217;ll be physically challenged defensively, betting on players who are this big, this skilled and this instinctive usually pans out.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7a\">Morant is simply not the same player he was when he first came into the league, as he&#8217;s dealt with injuries, off the court issues, and the lack of a developing 3-point shot.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7d\">However, a change of scenery could sometimes benefit a star in desperate need of one, which is exactly what Brooklyn could offer the former All-NBA star.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7g\">Morant&#8217;s aerial acrobatics quickly made him a social media darling among the younger generation of fans, alongside his exuberant personality.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7j\">Simply put, he has big city charisma and could at least come in and provide some excitement to a fanbase in desperate need of some while the organization figures out how to navigate this rebuild.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7m\">At the same time, though, it&#8217;s hard to see the Grizzlies move out of the No. 3 selection just to get off Morant&#8217;s contract, which has over $40 million attached to it per season through 2028.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\">But if the Grizzlies decide the tradeoff is worth it, this is definitely a deal Brooklyn should look to make, as Boozer has the potential to be a nice fit in Nets coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s system.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooklyn Nets are currently projected to be the sixth team on the clock on draft night. Much&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-233293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}