Billy King Still Regrets The Famous Nets Trade...Uhhhhhhh Ya Think?

So Chris Mannix had a nice story today in SI  about Billy King and his quest to return to an NBA front office. He talked about how he wished the Nets trade didn’t define him and people focused on his time in Philly as well. I’m not sure why people just can’t let that Nets trade go, I mean it’s not like those Brooklyn teams didn’t live up to the hype right? With that collection of talent, they for sure won something right? Oh no….

I get what he’s saying, that one move shouldn’t define a legacy, but when your one mistake is one of the worst trades in NBA history that helped propel your division rival forward and speed up their rebuild, you gotta wear that L. To be fair, it’s not like every Brooklyn picked worked out, there was that whole James Young thing but we won’t talk about that because I don’t feel like crying. You mostly know this Brooklyn trade as the deal that brought in Tatum and Jaylen,

Advertisement

but what if it went deeper? You see Ainge, someone that in fact does know what he’s doing, ultimately turned Piece+KG+Rondo into Kyrie/Tatum/Jaylen/Yabu/Semi/more 1st round picks. So not only did Billy King help Danny get two young studs with his high lottery picks, he also enabled him to secure the point guard he wanted for the future in Kyrie Irving. Who knows if the Nets would have made that same deal with CLE because if we’re changing history you can’t just assume everything else stays the same, but in hindsight that doesn’t really help the optics of this trade either.

And look I don’t want to shit too much on BKN. After 6 long years they finally look like they are getting back on track. Caris LeVert is a stud and they have a good coach and aren’t nearly the dumpster fire we’ve seen over the last handful of  years. But if you’re Billy King, I don’t think the issue is that no NBA teams think he can’t do the job, but if I’m an owner how could I possibly trust him in any trade? To mortgage your future like that for aging stars was a bold move, and to not really get any sort of protections on the majority of those picks is something that would ultimately be a deal breaker. Sure maybe it’s a little unfair that this one trade may prevent him from getting another job when bad trades happen all the time, but when yours literally helps shape the NBA for decades, that’s not something you can just easily overlook.

Personally, I encourage every team that may have an opening strongly consider King. Maybe someone like New Orleans? Then I need Ainge to go to Verizon, get a burner phone and see what he can do. The NBA already has enough drama in regards to who is moving to what team, what start could be traded etc, we need to add to that chaos by throwing Billy King and his trade evaluation skills into the fire.

Hopefully he does get another shot but probably not and that’s sad. I for one would like to thank him for everything he’s done for me and the team that I root for, and I want some other fanbase to have that same feeling.