The Brooklyn Nets are sending Bojan Bogdanovic to Washington for a 2017 first-round pick and Andrew Nicholson.
Sean Marks is doing everything possible to clean up the mess he inherited from Billy King, and Woj reported that the first-year GM is sending Bogdanovic and Chris McCullough to the Washington Wizards for their first-rounder, Nicholson and shooting guard Marcus Thornton.
The Wizards desperately needed bench scoring, and Bogdanovic gives them just that. He’s averaging a career-best 14.2 points a night while shooting 35.7 percent from three, and he’ll be getting an awful lot of open looks now that he isn’t a go-to guy. Furthermore, Washington can hide him on defense, since he’s mediocre at best on that end.
Now, the Nets are free of an impending free agent who, clearly, had some significant trade value. Obtaining of the Wizards’ draft pick gives Brooklyn two selections that are projected to be in the 20s, and they could walk away with someone like Luke Kennard, Dwayne Bacon, Miles Bridges or Justin Jackson.
The other relatively big piece in this deal was Nicholson, who’s a very under-the-radar type player. He’s 27 and in his fifth season, but neither the Orlando Magic nor Wizards gave him a prominent role. Nicholson, 6-9, isn’t much of a shot blocker, but he makes up for it with above-average rebounding ability, and he’s never had a problem finishing around the rim despite not getting many looks.
McCullough and Thornton were thrown in as secondary pieces, and this is a deal that works out exceptionally well for both sides. With McCullough, the Nets dumped someone who wasn’t able to work his way into their rotation despite spending a lot of time bouncing between the D-League and the NBA. He’s got potential to be a solid rotational player, but he has yet to show consistent flashes in his second season.
This will be Thornton’s second stint in Brooklyn, and the first time saw nice results — 12.3 on 38 percent shooting from downtown. He’s someone who can come off the bench and be a nice spark for the offense, but that’s it. On top of that, he struggles with consistency issues.
In the end, the Wizards and Nets made a deal that catered to the needs of both: Washington bolstered their bench for their playoff run; Brooklyn nabbed a draft pick to reinforce their rebuild.
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