UPDATE:
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, David Aldridge of NBA.com, and Howard Beck of the New York Times both refute the report below it. We've kept the report up after the jump for clarity.

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Will Nets GM Billy King add to this list today?

Happy Trade Deadline Day! After 3 P.M. EST today, teams are no longer allowed to make trades, which usually results in a scramble to make moves as quickly as possible to get them in by the deadline. In the last 72 hours before the 2011 trade deadline, 50 players were traded -- including then-Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams to the then-New Jersey Nets.

In honor of today's basketball importance, let's take a look back at history: here are the best five Nets trades of all time.

Start Here: #5 (2004)

 

 


Deron Williams POINT GUARD

Like yesterday, it seemed like there was nothing Williams could do to stop Jennings -- Jennings just absolutely destroys the Nets, for whatever reason -- and when considering his performance in a vacuum, I thought he played quite well. Took smart shots and hit them, had some really pretty dishes, and hit what would have been a daggerous three-pointer with 1:50 left to give him 20 points and put the Nets up 11 if the Nets were anything close to competent at the end of games.

A couple of shoddy late-game plays -- a turnover, a horribly short free throw -- bump him down a notch, but from start to finish, hard not to argue with this Deron Williams.

Joe Johnson SHOOTING GUARD

Hit his first two shots and celebrated with a quiet remainder of the evening. Thought he was fine, other than his shooting, but that's a big problem.

Gerald Wallace SMALL FORWARD

Game-clinching rebound and the game's best highlight dunk. I'll take it.

Kris Humphries POWER FORWARD

Two stints: one completely uneventful one in the first quarter that ended with more fouls than minutes, and a far more eventful one in the fourth that included some key rebounds and an and-one fadeaway off-balance jumper.

Brook Lopez CENTER

Awful start, maddening throughout, sat the fourth quarter and entirely justifiable.

Andray Blatche POWER FORWARD

I think I figured it out: Blatche makes 25% looks 40% of the time and 70% looks 55% of the time. Did a great job attacking the glass.

Keith Bogans SHOOTING GUARD

Open threes, great defense, undeserved technicals. ROLE STAR HIP HOP.

MarShon Brooks SHOOTING GUARD

Played an excellent third-to-fourth quarter stretch: in attack mode without forcing, hit an open three, and keyed an 11-0 run that gave the Nets a lead for the first time since the game's opening possessions.

Reggie Evans POWER FORWARD

I'm not going to fault him for taking advantage of having an offense run through him for possessions at a time. If the Nets want to give him shots, that's a strategical decision. But: what the hell?

Mirza Teletovic POWER FORWARD

Got some early minutes thanks to Kris Humphries foul trouble and delivered: didn't hit any shots in the first quarter but looked comfortable in the offense and took good shots. Now if only he'd, well, make one.

C.J. Watson POINT GUARD

Big game for Watson; solid role star impression in the first half, netting three open left corner threes by sneaking away from an unprepared/unsuspecting defense. Hit a huge layup when everyone would expect Joe Johnson to shoot to put the Nets up 4.


 

Brooklyn Nets forward Gerald Wallace provides the only Nets highlight of this game so far, a sweet out-of-nowhere two-handed dunk on the break in Ersan Ilyasova's face to cut the Milwaukee Bucks lead to 11. Watch:

 

Grade the Game At Any Time!

Tonight: After a thrilling conclusion to last night's game in Brooklyn, the 32-22 Brooklyn Nets travel to Milwaukee to take on the 26-26 Milwaukee Bucks, at 8:00 P.M. EST tonight at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee. This is the second game of a back-to-back, home-and-home between these two teams, and will wrap up the season series. Last night's victory marked the first in 14 attempts for the Nets franchise, dating back to 2009.

The BK Game Streak: Today marks game 2 of "The BK Game Streak," where you can build a streak of wins along the betting line over the course of the season. Three prizes will be awarded at the end of the year, with first prize a $200 Amazon Gift Card. Log in with Facebook to get started, vote in the box above, and good luck!

Watch & Listen: Tonight's game is broadcast on YES Network. Ian "The Birdman" Eagle and Mike "The Czar" Fratello are on the call. The game is radio simulcast on WFAN, and in Spanish on WADO.

More on tonight's game, including injuries and stats, after the jump... MORE →

 

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics have discussed a trade that would send Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets, with the Nets offering Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, and a first-round draft pick. The Celtics apparently want a "more substantial" package, requesting forward Mirza Teletovic and potentially another pick, but the Nets balked at paying that price.

The Nets have have discussions with the Celtics before about Pierce, though it's unlikely that Boston would want to trade him to a division rival for an underwhelming package. Adding Pierce would create an additional logjam at small forward for the Nets, who already have Gerald Wallace signed for four years at around $40 million.

From the report:

"The Celtics still highly value Pierce and it wouldn't make sense to trade him for that kind of a package if they're keeping Kevin Garnett," one league source said.

Wojnarowski added that the Celtics, reportedly looking to bolster their guard rotation, also inquired about backup point guard C.J. Watson, but were rebuffed by the Nets.

Read More: NBA trade deadline buzz: Nets make offer for Celtics guard Paul Pierce

 

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

Josh Smith has expressed a desire to play with Milwaukee guards Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis, though the Bucks would likely need to part with Ellis to make a deal palatable for Atlanta. Phoenix has also been linked to a potential deal that would send C Marcin Gortat to Oklahoma City for C Kendrick Perkins. According to an earlier report from ESPN's Brian Windhorst, the Hawks are not interested in acquiring Kris Humphries, who is in the first year of a two-year deal worth $12 million per season.

There are 23 hours until the trade deadline.

 


This was a fun one to watch, right?

While the Brooklyn Nets went relatively standard for their last play in overtime -- give the ball to Joe Johnson, get the hell out of the way -- P.J. Carlesimo drew up something starkly different in the waning moments of regulation, turning Iso-Joe/HeroBall-Joe into Curl Screen Joe/Open Look Joe, and the playcall gave the Nets exactly what they needed.

The Nets ran a variation of a similar play they'd run against the Los Angeles Lakers to get Deron Williams a look earlier in the season, but with a few tweaks to make it a more successful option. Against the Lakers, the play was doomed from the start; against the Bucks, it got Brooklyn an open look.

Let's break it down.... MORE →

 

Yesterday's game marked the inaugural run of "The BK Game Streak," where you can build a streak predicting how well the Nets will do in each game for a chance to win a $200 Amazon Gift Card!

The game is as simple as it sounds:

1. The contest relies on a standard betting line for each game. (Note: you must be logged into Facebook to play.) To make your prediction, select YES or NO to agree or disagree. For example: yesterday's statement was: "Brooklyn will beat Milwaukee by 5 or more points." Since they only won by two, the people who selected "NO" won the first game, and currently have a streak of one. (That was 34% of you.)

2. String together wins and try to get the longest streak of correct predictions before the end of the NBA regular season. Follow game results on the leaderboard on the right sidebar.

At the end of the season, we'll award three prizes to the players with the best three streaks: The Gold Net Trophy (longest streak) and a $200 Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to first place, the Silver Net Trophy (second-longest streak) and a $50 Amazon Gift Card to second place, and the Bronze Net Trophy (third-longest streak) $25 Amazon Gift Card and a Bronze Net Trophy to third place.

Read more rules for the contest here.

Good luck!

 

Via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

The Nets are trying to make a deal for (Josh) Smith, too, and have offered Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, and either a future first-round pick or the draft rights to Croatian Bojan Bogdanovic, sources said.

Ken Berger of CBS Sports later followed up the report, noting that the Nets would almost assuredly have to acquire Smith before this year's trade deadline, as they'd have to move significant salary to fit under the luxury tax apron required to complete a sign-and-trade under the new collective bargaining agreement. Berger added that the "deadlock" between what the Hawks want (youth, draft picks) and what teams are offering (long-term salary) may push the odds slightly in Brooklyn's favor.

As I noted earlier, it'll be increasingly difficult for the Nets to pull off a deal for Smith, especially considering their lack of assets.

Read More: Yahoo! Sports: NBA trade deadline buzz: Clippers end Kevin Garnett trade talks – for now

 

Warm-Ups


The Game Starts Now... MORE →