Okafor to Brooklyn

The laughing stock of the NBA is starting to flip. The Brooklyn Nets might continue to get overlook but the plan that Sean Marks has started to execute must be recognized.

The trade between the Nets and the Boston Celtics will continue to dawn over this franchise until the turn of the decade, but the hand that Marks has been dealt has to be one of the worst in the NBA and he has completely flipped the script on the NBA. Brooklyn was the worst team in the NBA coming off the 2015-16 [21-61] and didn’t have a lottery pick to show for it.

In just a season and roughly a quarter the Nets have flipped a 21-61 roster into a roster with now two former Top Three picks. The Nets this afternoon have finalized a trade that will send Trevor Booker to Philadelphia for Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, and a 2019 2nd round pick. The Nets will release Sean Kilpatrick to make roster space for Okafor and Stauskas.

This trade makes sense for Brooklyn because of the plan that they have set out for themselves. They are taking young unproven or underperforming high-valued talent off of rosters that don’t want the contract or body on the roster and making Brooklyn a rehabilitation center of sorts for D’Angelo Russell and Jahlil Okafor. Okafor is only 21-years-old and hasn’t played a full season since he was drafted by Philly back in the 2015 draft. Okafor can add to a front court that consists of good young talent in Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Jarrett Allen, and Allen Crabbe. To add to that the Nets have veteran and journeyman Quincy Acy and Tyler Zeller. Okafor will benefit Jarrett Allen’s development because of what Okafor has endured in Philadelphia over the past couple of months. Stauskas is a former Michigan Wolverine and reunites with college teammate Caris Levert.


Brooklyn is now in similar light as the New York Jets due to the players who are on injured reserve. The Jets are over preforming to the standards that the media has put on this team even though Quincy Enunwa got injured in training camp. And, this Nets team is doing the same  thing without Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell. Sean Marks is making a change for the better for the Brooklyn Nets organization.  This may not be the last trade for Marks and the Nets to try to get underperformed talent, but just wait until next year when D’Angelo Russell and Jeremy Lin get back with this roster with Okafor. The Nets are going from the worst team in basketball and getting closer by the day to NBA Champions.  

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