The mid-season free trade window will close on Jan. 15, and for the next 10 days, it will be a high incidence of league trades and signings. Recently, due to the successive triggering of safety agreements by various teams, teams have signed new firefighters almost every day in order to cope with the tight schedule. Obviously, in this turbulent season, no NBA team will easily try to buy out players, after all, once the situation becomes serious, these players who usually can't play may become a lifesaver for the team. Therefore, the dream of a team that aspires to win the championship to pick up a leak in the season will most likely break down, but the transaction will continue to happen, because it is still the only way for the team to change during the season.
This season's Nets have been rumored to be trading, and major rotation players, including Irving and Harris, have become the subjects of public opinion for other teams. However, these trade rumors are based on the Nets' poor lineup fit before Irving's return, and now that Irving is back, the Nets' thinking about the direction of the trade has changed again. According to a Nets reporter, the Nets have always been eager to get an experienced interior player who can contribute to the team on the defensive end. Ibaka is one of the Nets' target players, and the Nets are testing the possibility of trading Ibaka with Bruce Brown. Previously, the Clippers have publicly announced that they are willing to trade Ibaka, and perhaps the Nets are waiting for the Clippers to buy out and take Ibaka without bloodshed, which now seems unlikely.
Brown's trade with Ibaka is a win-win deal for both the Nets and Clippers. The Clippers already have two large-sized centers in the Clippers, Zubac and Harden, and the reserves obsessed with the small lineup Clippers on the inside have overflowed, and as they get older, Ibaka's effectiveness as a small-ball center has also been greatly reduced, and for the Clippers now, Ibaka's positioning on the team is very awkward. And Brown, as a small player who is mainly based on the end of the line, is very much in line with the Clippers' small-ball lineup, which is also the player they lack. In contrast, the Nets, Aldridge is too slow and Clarkston is too thin, the limitations on the defensive end are too large, Ibaka is very good at neutralizing the shortcomings of the two of them, providing a tough enough defense while also bringing a certain amount of defensive flexibility.
Perhaps the regret of this deal lies with Brown, but if you look closely at How Brown has performed this season, brown is not that important. Brown's performance this season is less than the average experience of last season, the small throwing skills of the housekeeper have also deteriorated, the three-point stability has not improved, and the only role is only on the outside defense. However, in the Nets' lineup, there is a more valuable Bemburi on the defensive end than him, and Brown's role is not irreplaceable. There is no doubt that hardened and Irving's absence, the Nets' biggest victim is Brown - the offensive end weakness is fully exposed. Moreover, Brown's contract is about to expire this season, and the Nets do not plan to renew his contract with a salary other than the base salary, and trading him is not a sad thing to do.
Long before signing the Clippers in 2020, Ibaka had considered re-joining big brother Durant, but the Nets really couldn't make a matching offer. Now that Harden and Durant are at the Nets, Ibaka may want to join the Nets even more. After Irving's return, it eased the rotation pressure of the Nets and solved most of the Nets' offensive problems, but the big hole in the interior line is still there.
Compared to Aldridge and Clarkston, Ibaka's defensive flexibility and spatial attributes are both balanced, which is where his strength lies. Aldridge's offense is important in some games, but once he meets the team of the little fast, Aldridge will become a double-edged sword, just like in the previous game against the Warriors, Aldridge's playing time was limited to the limit, nash gave the reason is that the Threat of the Warriors' small lineup is too great, he does not dare to risk using Aldridge. Perhaps Ibaka's role will be very obvious at this time.