The Brooklyn Nets cycle is alive and well — acquire a player in a trade, revive their market value with added offensive freedom, deal them away while watching them revert to the same player from before, profit, and do it all over again. Michael Porter Jr. is the latest name enjoying the process, and the Golden State Warriors could take the bait.
The Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers are opposite in a way. Los Angeles knows it has a talented offense to fall back on when their defense lets them down (with regularity). Golden State has the defense, but despite adding Jimmy Butler, continues to be mediocre on the other end.
Brett Siegel wrote, "Porter appears to be at the top of the Warriors' list right now if they can land him for [Jonathan] Kuminga, [Moses] Moody, Buddy Hield, and a [first]. Whether this is adequate value ... and whether that organization will even trade him over the next three weeks is the big question."
It's not that any of those players are irreplaceably untouchable for the Warriors. In fact, they would probably prefer to rid themselves of someone like Kuminga after all the trouble that situation has caused them. It's more about what happens after that moment.
Michael Porter Jr. would be that fool’s gold for the Golden State Warriors
Porter is undeniably enjoying career-best individual numbers with the Nets this season. Thus far, the Nets forward is averaging 25.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steal in 33.1 minutes per game, posting shooting splits of 49-40-84.
The former Denver Nuggets champion talked about hitting his ceiling with his old team on his way out of the Mile High City when the Cameron Johnson trade went through. With the larger role in Brooklyn, Porter has been proven right.
Mikal Bridges also enjoyed a scoring leap when the two-way wing swapped his set-up with the Phoenix Suns for the Nets. After Brooklyn relocated him across town to the New York Knicks, Bridges' figures returned back down to a more familiar pace for him.
That feels like the case study of what should be expected with Porter.
Granted, the Nets scoring machine would not walk into a situation like the Knicks where there are so many mouths to feed at the top. The Warriors would better compliment him with the desire to have his scoring touch.
Even so, regression — from a pure production standpoint — will be on the horizon. Would trading in multiple pieces and draft capital for Porter's services really lift the Warriors from their middling 21-19 reality? That much is doubtful, but Golden State is certainly desperate enough to try.