Brook Lopez (Photo : NBAE via Getty Images)
Brook Lopez could become an expendable piece for the Brooklyn Nets, and one of the teams rumored to have interest in acquiring the All-Star center is the Charlotte Hornets.
The Nets are not expected to become a winning team this season, despite making significant changes to their roster. The addition of Jeremy Lin and a handful of veterans in Randy Foye and Luis Scola should propel the Nets to win more games than they did last season, but with the team still lacking talent in their roster, Brooklyn is destined to be a lottery team in the 2016-2017 season.
With that being said, the Nets might as well consider slowly rebuilding the franchise and look for ways to acquire future draft picks that would help them kick start such cause. Enter Brook Lopez.
Lopez has been the Nets most consistent player since drafting him back in 2008. Trading the 28-year-old center would certainly leave the Nets with a huge void to fill, but it is still a likely option if Brooklyn would want future assets in return.
According to Sports Illustrated's Fansided writer Brandon Jefferson, the Charlotte Hornets could be one of the perfect trade partners should the Nets trade Lopez this season.
"Teams like the Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Pelicans, and Sacramento Kings have some combination of oversized expectations: impatient owners, young assets, future picks (lottery potential), and outside pressure to possibly be open to acquiring a player like Lopez," Jefferson wrote.
"Marks and Atkinson should do all they can to showcase Lopez to begin the year and then ship him out of town to the highest bidder when the trade deadline approaches."
The Hornets are poised for a better finish this season after retaining Nicolas Batum and the acquisitions of several key players in the offseason. Roy Hibbert's addition should also be a boost for the Hornets, but there is still a glaring need for Charlotte to fill the hole left by Al Jefferson.
Lopez would give the Hornets a scoring option inside the paint that would go perfectly with the team's rotation of shooters. Jefferson has proven to be effective playing under Steve Clifford, which means Lopez, an upgraded version of Jefferson who is also skilled offensively, should seamlessly fit in Clifford's offensive schemes.
However, the Hornets do not have much to offer the Nets. Young talents like Jeremy Lamb and Frank Kaminsky could be some of the tradable pieces for Charlotte, but it would still not match Lopez's remaining $21.1 million in his contract.
The Nets have also insisted about not trading Lopez, whom Brooklyn's front office sees as a building block for the franchise moving forward. But Lopez's value is at an all-time high, and for the right price, the Nets would probably reconsider moving their remaining All-Star.
Video courtesy: YouTube/FreeDawkins
