In a lengthy discussion of the Nets immediate future — particularly which teams might be interested in Michael Porter Jr., Jake Fischer of The Steinline also writes that Brooklyn’s timeframe for contention could very well depend on how well they do in this year’s NBA Draft where they currently have a lottery pick. Indeed, he writes that league sources expect Brooklyn to start being aggressive after the Draft, whether they move MPJ or not.
Numerous NBA figures who know the Nets well believe Brooklyn
will be aggressive in trying to add to its roster this summer should it come away with a top pick in the June draft. Re-tradable salary and a future first-round pick, as a result, might not be enough to pry Porter from Brooklyn midstream.
Fischer does not provide details on who the Nets might be targeting or how high a pick in the 2026 draft would trigger such thinking but what he suggests is that Sean Marks & co. might be thinking that they could accelerate things. Most fans have resigned themselves to a longer rebuild with the 2026-27 season part of the process. Of course indeed any such acceleration from rebuild to contention would be dependent on a number of other issues, like how much progress the six Nets players on rookie deals — the Flatbush Five as well as Noah Clowney — can make.
No one in the Nets front office has put a time frame on any aspect of the rebuild. Both publicly and privately, they talk about “flexibility,” being able to move when opportunity arises, in whatever form. Success in the 2025 and 2026 could be an advantage in acquiring a star or superstar. That said, established NBA players are not often moved by tales of potential. They want to join teams with ready-made cores.
The Nets do have a great deal of flexibility. In addition to being the NBA’s youngest team by a fair margin, they currently have the most draft picks, 32 including 13 firsts, all but one unprotected; about $15.5 million in cap space now as much as $50 million by the summer. Trading Porter would add to those assets, but as Fischer admits, there’s a lot of smoke about his rising value but not a lot of fire.
MPJ’s trade value has been a topic of conversation throughout the NBA, including on these pages. But while Fischer lists a number of teams that could have interest in Porter, having a career year at 27, he also is quite clear that nothing much is going on and that the Nets may just wait till the summer to get real about Porter if they feel it will
Fischer writes about teams “evaluating” or “monitoring” Porter or having “internal discussions” about him or are candidates to be a “team to consider” or one to “keep our antennae up.“ The team Fischer puts at the top of his speculative list is the Bucks who are certainly interested in improving their roster in hopes of hanging on to Giannis Antetokounmpo. There too nothing seems close to fruition. Fischer writes:
It should come as no surprise that Milwaukee, league sources say, is evaluating Porter on top of the targets we’ve previously reported whose contracts are actually pricier: Sacramento’s Zach LaVine and Portland’s Jerami Grant.
Among the players referenced in this section, Porter might have the highest ceiling of them all. He has still yet to enter his prime and provides floor spacing Milwaukee badly needs to open up space for Giannis Antetokounmpo’s bulldozing drives.
He also prominently mentions Detroit as possibility. Although Fischer doesn’t mention it, the Pistons have a big advantage: they have all their first round picks available. He likes the fit.
With Porter, there is no heavy long-term financial commitment. And it’s not that difficult to envision the Pistons packaging a few veteran salaries, plus one first-round pick, to get the Nets’ attention.
To be clear: The Pistons, I’m told, have not called on Porter — yet. If they do, Brooklyn could rationalize such a move as only expanding upon its initial return for Johnson with more future assets.
There’s speculation about Golden State but an admission that the Nets have had ample opportunity to discuss Jonathan Kuminga and have passed on the 23-year-old who is in Steve Kerr’s dog house for most of the season.
Chicago too, makes Fischer’s list but again what’s the deal? He notes that the Bulls have had interest in Porter in the past but they have signaled they are unlikely to make any big decisions till nearer the trade deadline on February 5.
Finally, Fischer admits that the Nets don’t appear to be any hurry to engage any of the prospective suitors.
We should, however, note: The Nets, to this point, are best characterized as listening to offers for Porter rather than actively shopping him. It could also be argued that it might behoove Brooklyn to wait until the offseason before any MPJ move to enable the Nets to use his contract as outgoing salary in any aggressive offseason splurge of their own.
Porter has said all the right things about the Nets and their young coach, Jordi Fernandez. There’s no indication he wants to move on. But he is a hot property.
[A] front office executive, when contemplating where Porter ranks on this Trade Season’s proverbial biggest-names-who-could-actually-change-teams list, went so far as saying:
“Who couldn’t use an MPJ?”
He’s been that damn good. Pouring in a career-high 25.8 points per game, on top of career-bests in rebounds (7.5 RPG) and assists (3.3 APG) while absolutely sniping at better than 40% from long distance
Assuming the Nets want to move up their timeframe, would they see Porter (and Nic Claxton with his declining contract) as pieces for their contending team rather than just trade assets? We won’t know that for a while, but don’t expect Marks to give any hint. He likes to keep things tight until the very last moment.
