How the latest Nets trade adds a new element to their Kyrie Irving pursuit

The NBA Draft is still two weeks away but the wheeling and dealing kicked off already on Thursday as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com was first to report that the Brooklyn Nets have agreed to a salary dump deal with the Atlanta Hawks.

The Nets will move Allen Crabbe and his $18 million expiring contract for 2019-20 to the Hawks, along with the No. 17 overall pick and a top-14 protected 2020 first round pick for Taurean Prince and a 2020 second round pick.

The logic from Atlanta’s perspective here is quite simple for a deal that will be made official after July 1st in order to satisfy salary cap rules. The Hawks are accumulating assets to build with their young core of Trae Young and John Collins. They get a first round pick this year and likely a second one in 2020 for the price of taking on a bad contract in Crabbe and Prince. They don’t plan on targeting top names in free agency anyway with their cap room so they figure using it to add assets is a better plan, something the Celtics did with plenty of success during their rebuild earlier this decade.

The more noteworthy twist from a Celtics perspective though is the maneuvering by Brooklyn with their cap sheet. The Nets have been linked by multiple reports as a top suitor for Kyrie Irving in the past couple of weeks, joining the Knicks and Lakers as rumored landing spots if he decides to leave Boston. By dumping Crabbe and the No. 17 pick (while taking back Prince’s cheap salary of $3 million), the Nets will have opened up another $18 million in potential cap space this summer.

Nets general manager Sean Marks already had enough space for one max free agent before the deal with Atlanta but with Crabbe off the books now, the door is open for the Nets to potentially land two max guys if they are willing to renounce their other free agents (including D’Angelo Russell). That could potentially make them a more enticing destination to Irving or any other top tier free agent who wants to team up with a star running mate in a new destination.

It’s important to note that the fact the Nets did open up this type of cap space doesn’t mean there is a guarantee that they will land two big names. The Knicks opened up similar big cap room with the Kristaps Porzingis trade back in February (New York can sign up to two max players now) while the Lakers have positioned themselves to have two max slots as well with some roster shuffling. At least one of these teams is going to have very little to show for all of their cap room this summer, especially if bigger names like Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Kemba Walker or Tobias Harris elect to stay put (all realistic possibilities).

There are also only a certain number of teams this summer with the necessary cap room that would be willing to take a

salary dump like Crabbe, so the Nets elected to lock down one of those spots while paying a pretty heavy premium in the form of two first-round picks. Prince is a nice cheap piece but he only has one year remaining on his deal and hasn’t shown a lot of growth during his first three seasons.

With that all that said, this type of trade is likely to just make Danny Ainge sweat a little bit more ahead of draft night as rumors swirl around Irving. The All-Star was reported to be a club in New York last night when he crossed paths with some current Nets, according to one report. The Celtics could very well still be in the running here to keep him but the smoke here is real about the intrigue of Brooklyn.

Even if Durant decides he doesn’t want to team up with Irving in New York, Brooklyn has now opened the door for Irving to help recruit a running mate if he does decide on the Nets. They also could team him up with restricted free agent Russell and still have some cap room (about $20 million) to add some role pieces or retain their own free agents. Irving would be the clear No. 1 in Brooklyn, although it’s hard to see that group being an East contender without another All-Star piece joining him. The Nets could also attempt to roll the dice on a trade for Anthony Davis in a final attempt to lure Irving to New York. While they gave up those first-round picks together, they still have a number of young pieces (Caris LaVert, Jarrett Allen, Spencer Dinwiddie, Russell via a sign-and-trade) that could hold appeal to Pelicans president David Griffin.

From a Celtics’ perspective, the only real response they have right now to other team’s maneuvering is making a big play for Anthony Davis or another All-Star name in an attempt to sell Irving on staying with a revamped roster.

“I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know that yet,” Ainge said on Wednesday on the whether the C’s can do anything to entice Irving to come back.

Whether or not Irving is playing hard to get or has already decided to move on is the question the Celtics are going to have to answer as they weigh making a big splash in the coming days. The odds of a sign-and-trade with a team like the Nets would seem extremely low as well given the fact that they will directly compete with the Celtics in the East. Boston will have to make it worth their while to agree to anything (i.e. send enough draft compensation) and open up a trade exception for Boston but they could just elect to deny that path entirely and make life tougher for Ainge if Kyrie picks Brooklyn.

No matter what, the Nets look like a committed player in the free agent market this summer and clearly believe they have a chance at Irving with an aggressive trade like this. After years of painful rebuilding thanks to a brilliant trade by the Celtics, the Nets have positioned themselves for some potential payback six years later.