The Brooklyn Nets traded veteran point guard Jeremy Lin to the Atlanta Hawks, then acquired Kenneth Faried, Darrell Arthur, a 2019 protected first-round pick and a future second-round pick from the Denver Nuggets, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The pick is protected from 1-12, which means it will likely convey to the Nets should the Nuggets have a successful season.
Jeremy Lin traded to Hawks, Kenneth Faried to Nets in salary cap deals
Brooklyn creates even more cap space for next summer, while Denver evades luxury tax hell.
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
Isaiah Whitehead has also been moved to Denver as part of the trade, and according to Wojnarowski, the Nuggets are expected to waive him. Brooklyn and Atlanta will also exchange future second-round picks as part of their deal, according to Wojnarowski.
The deal is a cap dump for the Nuggets, who will shed more than $21 million in salary and even more in luxury tax savings by dealing Faried and Arthur to Brooklyn. It hold Brooklyn’s position as big players in the 2019 free agency class with Faried and Arthur’s contracts expiring at the end of this season. Brooklyn projects to have $51.2 million in cap space in 2019, and they have the ability to create $70 million, which will allow them to sign two max free agents next summer. It also lands the Nets yet another first-round pick.
Lin played just 25 minutes last season for Brooklyn before rupturing his patellar tendon in the opener against Indiana. He will play alongside rookie point guard Trae Young, as well as starting guard Dennis Schroder. It is unclear if Schroder is in Atlanta’s plans beyond this summer.
Faried is coming off of the worst season of his seven-year career. He was fully healthy, yet appeared in just 32 games, averaging 5.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game. Faried, however, was a double-double machine before falling out of the rotation two summers ago.
Arthur is a combo forward Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson should enjoy. He’s a tough, versatile defender who shot 35 percent from three last season and 45 percent from deep the season before.
This was the kind of move many had hoped the Nets would pull off, exchanging their cap space this season for future draft picks. Brooklyn has not had its own picks since trading most of them away in the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett deal of 2013. The Nets now own their remainder of their own first-round picks, plus an additional first-rounder from Denver.
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