JUNE 25TH, 9:38am: The Nets are still trying to use Plumlee to get into the lottery, sources tell Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
JUNE 23RD, 8:55pm: Brooklyn is unlikely to part with Plumlee unless it can secure a 2015 lottery pick in return, league sources have informed Stein (via Twitter).
6:57pm: The Nets continue to explore trade possibilities involving Plumlee in advance of the draft, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets.
JUNE 15TH, 3:37pm: The Nets are trying to trade Mason Plumlee to further their goal of landing a higher draft pick than the ones they have at 29th and 41st overall, tweets Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, responding to a NetsDaily tweet that posed the question of whether the Nets should trade Plumlee. Brooklyn’s desire to keep Plumlee derailed a proposal that would have sent Deron Williams to Sacramento this past season, as multiple reports made clear, but circumstances have changed for the 25-year-old big man, as Bondy detailed in May.
Some executives from teams around the league figured that Brooklyn would come to this point after the trade-deadline acquisition of Thaddeus Young and the resurgence of center Brook Lopez reduced Plumlee’s role, as Marc Stein and Mike Mazzeo reported a few weeks ago. Opposing teams had begun to inquire about Plumlee’s availability, as Stein added at the time. Lopez and Young aren’t necessarily locks to return, with Lopez possessing a player option and Young an early termination option, though Nets GM Billy King has made it clear that retaining both is a priority.
King said early last month that he explored trading everyone on the roster at some point last season, and in the same press conference, he said that the team will indeed try to trade up in the draft, as it’s often done in years past. King cautioned that he preferred not to deal away future draft assets to do so, leaving cash and current players as more likely trade bait.
Plumlee, whom the Nets mined with the 22nd overall pick two years ago, has two more years left on his rookie scale contract, which pays him slightly less than $1.416MM next season. That would make him a bargain with the kind of production he displayed in the first half of the season, when he averaged 10.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game coming off a summer with Team USA. Those numbers dropped to 6.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 17.5 MPG in the season’s second half.
Lol, Plumlee is not going to be enough to move up IMO. Take the BPA at your spot.