Over their recent history, the Nets have made a lot of personnel mistakes. While some of these happened due to factors outside of their control, Brooklyn has made a few predictable mistakes in free agency.
In the last couple of years, the Nets have made flashy moves to impress their fans and create excitement in the league. This has backfired on them greatly and has forced their team into a tough spot this offseason.
Not all of those mistakes were entirely predictable and within their control. But plenty were and these three were the biggest and most obvious.
Brooklyn Nets biggest free-agent mistakes: 3. Gerald Wallace
After paying top dollar in a trade to bring the swingman over from Portland, the Nets decided to give Wallace a four-year, $40 million deal. The trade on itself was one of the worst trades in all time with one of the picks they traded ended up becoming Damian Lillard. Wallace, meanwhile, ended up getting his salary dumped in the even worse deal for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
In his first year with the Nets, Wallace wasn't horrible. He ended up averaging double figures. In his second season with the Nets, he completely fell off the map. He would only play two more seasons in the NBA in total.
The Wallace signing probably looks worse because he was connected to two deals where the Nets gave up what turned out to be incredibly valuable draft picks. But they also threw big money at a player they thought could be a foundational piece and get very little return.
Brooklyn Nets biggest free-agent mistakes: 2. Deron Williams
After trading for Deron Williams in 2011, the Nets signed Williams to a monster contract. At the time, this was not considered a crazy move due to the fact that Williams was an all-NBA player. It is hard to believe now, but at the time, people debated whether Chris Paul or Deron Williams was the better player.
The Nets signed Williams to a five-year, $98 million contract. But Williams' talent started to fade quickly and he was bought out of his contract with two years left on his deal. As Williams started to age, he really started to lose the offensive game that made him one of the best players in the league.
He went from an All-Star to a starter to on the edge of the regular season rotation for the Nets. While the trade for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett was why the Nets had to completely rebuild, Williams' contract was a central reason why the Nets' first few years in Brooklyn were not successful.
He ended up making stops with the Mavs and Cavs on his way out of the league as his defense faded. His offensive game was already fading but he became virtually unplayable which brought retirement.
Brooklyn Nets biggest free-agent mistakes: 1. Deandre Jordan
To keep Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving happy, the Brooklyn Nets signed Deandre Jordan to a four-year, $40 million deal. At this point in his career, Jordan was past his prime and only got a big deal with the Mavs because it was one year deal. He was then packaged in a trade with the Knicks as a part of a salary dump.
Jordan was put in the starting lineup and then started to lose minutes, as he was quickly replaced with Jarrett Allen. Eventually, the Nets decided to bench Jordan altogether. Going into the deal, the Nets knew that Jordan was aging and scaled his contract in reverse order due to that fact. Part of the deal of getting Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving was signing DeAndre Jordan as well.
If the Nets were able to get something notable out of the KD and Irving era then this contract would not seem so bad in retrospect. But the Nets never made an Eastern Conference Finals in the 7/11 era, and it is very hard to ignore this contract as one of the worst contracts in Nets' history.
After two seasons, Jordan was bought out of his contract. He is still in the league due to him being a very good guy in the locker room. He is currently in the NBA Finals on the Denver Nuggets.
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