Thaddeus Young has said in the past that he’d like to return to the Nets next season, and while he didn’t directly address a question about his future from Steven Simineri of NetsDaily, the forward made it clear he was pleased with the midseason trade that brought him to Brooklyn. Young has an early-termination option worth nearly $10.222MM.
“It was the perfect situation for me, especially with me being good friends with [Nets GM] Billy [King], just knowing him and him drafting me in Philly,” Young said. “So it was a good situation, plus they had the right mix of players for me and I felt like I could be a great complementary piece to a lot of guys on this team.”
It’s a virtual must-win for Young and the Nets on Saturday as they trail 2-0 against the Hawks, and as we wait to see what happens, here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- The Knicks are reportedly poised to chase LaMarcus Aldridge, and Aldridge apparently has New York on his radar. Still, team president Phil Jackson doesn’t make it sound as if a superstar signing like that is in the offing for New York this summer, as Marc Berman of the New York Post observed after the Zen Master’s latest comments Tuesday.
- A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com figures the Celtics will try to re-sign Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko, but he doesn’t think they’re willing to splurge on either. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge on Thursday indicated his desire to re-sign Crowder.
- Blakely argues in the same piece that the best path to improvement for the Celtics is through trades. Ainge faces a key choice this summer about whether to keep Boston’s vast stockpile of trade exceptions or renounce them and open near max-level cap room, as I examined.