Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack are not untouchable.
Go figure.
Trade rumors are an occupational hazard in the NBA. For the Nets specifically, they’re a daily occurrence, one that recycles the same old desires day after day after day. They have too much money invested in a mediocre roster and need to part with talent to save on their expenses.
At any given point, any given player will amble into the line of hearsay fire. Some days it’s Deron Williams. Other days it’s Brook Lopez, who can now become a free agent.
Today it’s Johnson and Jack.
From ESPN.com’s Marc Stein and Mike Mazzeo (h/t ProBasketballTalk):
It is widely assumed the Nets will explore the trade markets for both Joe Johnson (with his expiring $24.9 million deal) and Jarrett Jack (due $12.6 million over the next two seasons but only partially guaranteed in 2016-17) to try to get away from tax territory that way, instead of waiving and stretching Williams. Neither of those ideas is as complicated as trying to trade D-Will himself, with $21 million next season and $22.3 million in 2016-17 owed to the 30-year-old, but you wouldn’t describe trading Johnson or Jack for purely financial motivations as easy, either.
Expiring contracts are easier to move than long-term pacts, but that matters little in this case. Johnson is owed nearly $24.9 million next season, while Jacks will bring home $6.3 million.
Some team desperate for help at point guard should be willing to acquire Jack, but Johnson’s deal is too freaking big. His is not a salary you just absorb. There will need to be other players involved, some of whom will be on longer deals that cut further into the Nets’ big-picture flexibility.
Sure, the desire to move them is understandable. The Nets have nearly $60 million in guaranteed commitments on their books for next season before factoring in the potential returns of Thaddeus Young, Mirza Teletovic and Lopez. They could very easily creep back into that dreaded $85-90 million range if Johnson and Jack stay put.
Footing that bill is in their best interests, though. There’s no point stretching Williams just to pay him $9 million-plus for each of the next five years, and any trade for Johnson will, again, either require buffers the Nets don’t have or demand they take back more crappy contracts in return.
It’s better to let this 38-win team expire on its own if no miracle trade market emerges. Wait for Johnson’s and Jack’s contracts to expire, and then go from there, into the summer of 2016, when they’ll have some cap space and be just one year away from Williams’ contract expiring as well.
