Nets Swap Porter Jr. for Jalen Green in Wild Hypothetical Trade Scenario

The Brooklyn Nets are excited about offseason addition Michael Porter Jr.

Now that he's been reunited with Head Coach Jordi Fernandez—who Porter enjoyed the best seasons of his career from 2018-22—some within the front office believe the 28-year-old is poised to compete for the 2025-26 scoring title. Realistically, he's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Hypothetically, he's being traded to the Phoenix Suns for Jalen Green in a recent article published by Bleacher Report.

On Wednesday, Zach Buckley came up with trade frameworks for each NBA franchise's best asset, which included a Porter-for-Green swap. In the deal, Brooklyn attaches a 2027 New York Knicks first-rounder and the Denver Nuggets' 2032 first-rounder to Porter.

"While the Nets appear nowhere near seeking out an acceleration deal, at some point they'll need to start collecting some building blocks. And since they just overloaded their young core with playmakers at the 2025 draft, it'd probably help if their next centerpiece had some serious scoring chops," Buckley wrote.

This logic would apply perfectly if the Nets weren't as excited about Porter as they are. Perhaps if Brooklyn's front office was coy on whether the 2018 first-rounder and NBA champion would be a part of the future plans or not, then projecting a reroute could make sense right now.

Given that it's been essentially only two months since Green landed in Phoenix and he hasn't been dealt again, it seems unlikely Phoenix explores a move now. Same goes for Porter, who would've been shipped elsewhere days (if not hours) after joining the Nets had he not been in the plans for 2025-26.

Plus, Brooklyn isn't ready for this "type" of deal yet. It needs to wait for some development—specifically from its 2025 draft class—before shipping out two future firsts for a "building block."

The Nets already have building blocks. Their names are Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf. And those are just rookie building blocks. That's not accounting for guys like Ziaire Williams, Day'Ron Sharpe and Jalen Wilson, who should remain integral parts of the franchise's rebuild going forward.

Buckley absolutely has the right idea—just maybe not the right timing. That said, Green could really salvage his value in Phoenix, which may ultimately price Brooklyn out should he become available. But if the Nets ever truly wanted to pursue him, they likely would have when they had the chance in negotiations with Houston or even after Phoenix had already acquired him.