Nets dug bigger hole for themselves with draft whiffs

Two years ago, the Brooklyn Nets used a first-round pick to draft Dariq Whitehead. On Tuesday, they gave Whitehead his unconditional release.

DraftKings has projected the Nets to win 21.5 games this coming season, the third-lowest total in the NBA. How Brooklyn got to this low point came from mortgaging its future to create a "Big Three" of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, then seeing all three players force trades. But the Nets didn't help themselves with their recent draft choices.

Dariq Whitehead was a wasted pick for Nets

Brooklyn drafted Whitehead with the No. 22 pick in 2023, selecting the then-19-year-old forward from nearby Newark, N.J., after he averaged 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and one assist as a freshman at Duke. Whitehead was certainly a project pick, but thanks to injuries and poor performance, he played only 22 NBA games and averaged 5.3 points.

One pick earlier in that draft, the Nets selected Noah Clowney at No. 21, using a pick they got from the Phoenix Suns in the Durant trade. Clowney had a promising rookie season, but declined from 53.8 percent shooting to 35.8 percent last season, blocking fewer shots in more minutes. He struggled to score when guarded, which led to this power forward taking over 70 percent of his shots behind the three-point line.

Nets are loading up on draft picks, but not getting quality players

Brooklyn got five first-round picks by trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks. It got four first-round picks and a pick swap for dealing Durant. So far, it has ended up with Clowney, 19-year-old French guard Nolan Traore (this year's No. 19 pick) and 19-year-old Israeli guard Ben Saraf (this year's No. 26 pick) — both projects.

It's hard to have confidence in Nets general manager Sean Marks. Since the Nets hired Marks in 2016, he hasn't had a lot of draft choices, but the list of his choices is hit-or-miss. The clear success is Jarrett Allen (No. 22, 2017), and Nic Claxton was a nice find at No. 31 in 2019.  

In 2018, he took Dzanan Musa at No. 29 and Rodions Kurucs at No. 40. Musa was out of the NBA in two years, Kurucs in three. In 2021, it was Cam Thomas (No. 27), currently playing on a qualifying offer and likely to leave Brooklyn next summer. Marks also took Kessler Edwards (No. 44), who played 62 games for the Nets, and Marcus Zegarowski (No. 49), who never played in the NBA at all.

In 2023, Marks got Jalen Wilson (No. 51), who led the Nets in minutes last season — and may not make the roster this season. This year, Marks had five first-rounders and chose not to trade a single one, shocking experts by taking BYU's Egor Demin at No. 8.

The future of the Nets depends on nailing the picks they have coming to them in upcoming drafts. Unfortunately, Marks and the Nets front office haven't inspired confidence that they can do it.