Farewell, creepy thing.

Per Zach Lowe of Grantland:

Actual news: Nets have informed their mascot he will not return next season, may place Brooklyn Knight character on hiatus...or worse.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 10, 2014

Official Nets statement: "We put a lot of effort into the BrooklynKnight, but we've decided to go in a different direction." #RIPKNIGHT

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 10, 2014

A team official has confirmed the statement to The Brooklyn Game.

The ridiculousness of the mascot aside, there's a small part of me that'll miss the BrooklyKnight's competely misfired charm: the way he scared kids with his oddly sociopathic mask, the way he shot t-shirts into the American flag by accident, the way the Nets hastily threw together a comic book about him that put Amar'e Stoudemire in the Nets locker room, the way he was accidentally named after a porn star, the way he tried to pump up the crowd during time-outs usually to no avail...

There's a shred of New Jersey Nets-dom that'll be gone with his departure. Oh, well. Bring back Sly.

Credit: Mike King

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, and Brooklyn Nets officially announced the three-team trade that sends Marcus Thornton away from the Nets for Jarrett Jack and Sergey Karasev Thursday morning.

The Nets will also send the draft rights to Eden Bavcic, Christian Drejer, and Ilkan Karaman to the Cavaliers. None of them are expected to make it to the NBA, though Karaman has the best shot. Drejer was a 2004 second-round pick that retired from basketball in 2008, and the Nets acquired Bavcic's rights from the New Orleans Pelicans in the deal that sent away Tyshawn Taylor.

Thornton goes to the Celtics, along with Tyler Zeller and a first-round pick from Cleveland. The Celtics send a conditional second-round pick back to the Cavaliers.

"Jarrett is a proven NBA veteran who will add versatility to our backcourt," Nets general manager Billy King said in a prepared statement. "The team had a need in that area and we are excited that we were able to secure Jarrett to fill that role. Sergey is a player who we have followed closely for several years. He is a versatile forward and will be a welcome addition to our roster."

Jack will fill the backup point guard hole left by Shaun Livingston, while Karasev is a 20-year-old Russian prospect the Nets hope fits in a backup swingman role.

The big winner in this trade is dreams. The Cavaliers open up enough cap space to offer four-time MVP LeBron James, an Ohio native, a maximum contract in the city he played the first seven years of his career. The Nets get a backup point guard, a decent prospect, and preserve cap room for the summer of 2016, when Kevin Durant will be a free agent. The Celtics add another first-round pick to their incredible arsenal of first-round picks, in the hopes that one of them strikes lottery gold in the next few years.

Welcome to Brooklyn, Jarrett and Sergey!

Longtime NBA coach Paul Westphal will join Lionel Hollins on the Brooklyn Nets bench as his most experienced assistant, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports:
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In his introductory press conference Monday morning, new Brooklyn Nets head coach Lionel Hollins stressed that his staff wasn't going to come together right away, and that he and GM Billy King would take the time needed to put together the right staff.

But it looks like we've got some things cleared up.... MORE →

After a lavish spending spree during the last two offseasons and a record payroll, the the Brooklyn Nets will officially pay close to $91 million in luxury tax payments alone, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN:
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The Nets have acquired Jarrett Jack. (AP)

The Nets are on the verge of acquiring Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jarrett Jack and forward Sergey Karasev in a three-team deal that would send away Nets guard Marcus Thornton, according to a report from Marc Stein of ESPN.
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The Brooklyn Nets have given former head coach and new Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd the permission to speak with Nets assistant coach Joe Prunty, according to a report by David Aldridge of TNT:

Jason Kidd has permission from the Nets to speak with top assistant Joe Prunty, per source. Prunty is also Great Britain's national team HC.

— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 8, 2014

Prunty was invited to join the Nets staff by Kidd when Kidd was hired as one of his "all-star" cast of assistants led by Lawrence Frank. He has been an assistant in the NBA since 2002, in stints with the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks (where he coached Kidd), Portland Trail Blazers, and Cleveland Cavaliers. Prunty also coached the team for the first two games of the season as Kidd served his suspension for a DUI.

It's already expected that Kidd will bring along assistants Eric Hughes and Sean Sweeney, though it seems that Lawrence Frank won't be going anywhere.

There's no official word yet on Lionel Hollins's staff, and we may not get confirmation on it for some time. Nets GM Billy King said Monday that getting the assistants isn't something that needs to be done right away. Hollins added that he's already reached out to some people who have declined. We'll wait and see what happens.

Prunty is not with the Nets in Orlando during Summer League: as Aldridge mentioned, Prunty is also the head coach of the Great Britain men's national basketball team, which is why he's not with the team. "He wanted to go down (to Orlando) but I said, "look, spend time with your family, get ready, because you're going to be gone on the road for like six weeks," King said.

Paul Pierce doesn't seem to be sweating free agency too much. While the Nets and Los Angeles Clippers fight over Pierce's services -- either show me the money or show me Doc Rivers -- Pierce is in Las Vegas playing at the World Series of Poker:

Playin in WSOP today wish me luck pic.twitter.com/R08LsUgfhG

— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) July 7, 2014

Seems like Pierce had a pretty good day: he later said he won $60,000 in chips on day one.

Headed out ended day not bad 60k check out where that placed me on day 1 http://t.co/nNfvB3jaER see ya on day 2

— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) July 8, 2014

It's worth noting that he didn't actually win $60,000 -- he won $60,000 in chips at the tournament. But if Pierce has enough good days, maybe he'll be able to come down from his asking price of $9-10 million.

Paul Pierce (AP)

The Brooklyn Nets and Paul Pierce still stand apart financially on a deal that would bring Pierce back to Brooklyn, according to a report from ESPN New York:
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