The Nets have traded for Jazz forward Royce O’Neale, sending a first-round draft pick to Utah in exchange, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.
This, of course, is the second-biggest news to come out of Brooklyn on the first day of free agency, as the entire roster is available after Kevin Durant requested a trade. You can read that full story right here.
Multiple teams had been calling about O’Neal, with the Nets being one of them. The Hawks and Raptors were among the others, per The Athletic’s Tony Jones.
O’Neale, 29, is 6-foot-4 and has spent all five of his NBA seasons in Utah. He averaged a career-high 7.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in 77 games last season. He has started in each of the 148 games in which he’s appeared over the previous two years.
The Jazz, of course, have undergone a coaching change, with former Celtics assistant Will Hardy replacing Quin Snyder, who stepped down after two seasons.
“I’ve definitely heard a lot of teams I’ve been interested in Royce O’Neale from Utah,” Fischer said. “The three teams I’ve heard the most consistent with, there have been Atlanta, Toronto and Brooklyn.”
Charania did not specify what year the Nets’ first-rounder is that’s being sent to the Jazz. Either way, the Nets are clearly about to undergo an extreme makeover, and getting a reliable starter in O’Neale is a fairly decent approach to it.
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