The Brooklyn Nets made a couple of moves that saved them roughly $9 million in luxury tax while injecting more shooting to surround Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
The Nets have landed Landry Shamet in a three-way Draft Day trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Detroit Pistons. The Nets then waived veteran Garrett Temple on Thursday, first reported by Ian Begley of SNY.
Luke Kennard will go to the Clippers, while the Nets’ 19th pick (Villanova’s Saddiq Bey) will begin his NBA career as a Piston.
The 23-year old Shamet will add shooting to the Nets, the sixth-worst in three-point accuracy last season. Shamet is a 40.2 percent career three-point shooter and is much younger than Temple.
The Nets were able to lower down their luxury tax bill by not picking up the $5 million team option of Temple, who is expected to sign with another contender.
Brooklyn payroll goes from $143.4M âž¡ï¸$138.4M
Current tax bill goes from $18M âž¡ï¸$8.7M
The Landry Shamet addition plus the potential high cost of free agent Joe Harris resulted in the team option declined for Garrett Temple.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) November 19, 2020
Shamet appeared to be excited with the trade as he posted a video of him enjoying steak and wine with Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind playing in the background shortly after the deal was announced on Wednesday night.
— Landry Shamet (@landryshamet) November 19, 2020
Shamet will also serve as insurance if Joe Harris leaves. But multiple reports have indicated that the sharpshooting Harris will return to the Nets.
The Nets general manager Sean Marks has indicated that Harris is a priority. The Nets hope to re-sign him when the free agency begins Friday.
Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo