The Brooklyn Nets came away from the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery with a disappointing result as they ended up with the No. 6 overall pick despite having a 14.0% chance of getting the No. 1 pick. Brooklyn now moves forward with the knowledge that they can use their first-round pick to draft their next franchise guy, but they could have other moves to make this summer.
“The Nets have nothing but time now. Waiting out Embiid’s contract is no problem for them, their whole team is cheap and they’re not contending next year anyway short of some Hail Mary we don’t currently see,” CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn wrote in a post on X when reacting to Brooklyn unfortunate turn of events in the Lottery. One of Quinn’s suggestions is trading for Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid in the effort to get more draft capital.
“If he happens to give you some fun stretches? Cool. Bonus,” Quinn continued in his post. “Really, he’s the matching salary in my star trade(s) in two years once he’s expiring, and a path to extracting picks out of Philly now. I’m just trying to accumulate such a cartoonish amount of future draft capital that I can get outbid for whoever the guy is in 2028 or 2029 by absolutely nobody.”
As of this writing, the Nets have at least 11 first-round picks in the next six years, but there are some in the NBA community who believe that teams like Brooklyn should be trying to get as many draft picks as possible until they’re no longer needed. Based on what most pundits are saying about the 2026 draft class, the Nets aren’t expected to select a star-level player given that they pick didn’t land in the top-4.
For a team like the 76ers, Embiid’s contract may prove to be something that the team needs to get off if they’re going to move in a different direction, which could happen after President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey was let go following their loss to the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs. Given Embiid’s injury woes, Philadelphia may have to attach draft capital to Embiid to move him and Brooklyn could potentially benefit from that transaction.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Should the Nets trade for 76ers’ Joel Embiid after Lottery result?
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
