NBA PM: Brook Lopez Trade Dead for Now

First Hornets, Then Nets Drop Out of Nets Deal

For the better part of the last 24 hours we’ve been told that Brook Lopez would be sent from the Brooklyn Nets to the Oklahoma City Thunder in some sort of swap that would likely return them the expiring deal of Kendrick Perkins and hopefully some kind of talented young players to go along with the cap relief.

The rumor started with three-way conversations that also would have had the Charlotte Hornets shipping off Lance Stephenson to Brooklyn, but earlier on Friday the Nets dropped out of the discussions, according to ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard. Apparently they too had reservations over acquiring Stephenson due to his struggles this season and the potential trouble that playing so close to home could cause.

That was the beginning of the end of any deal in which Lopez would have ended up in Oklahoma City. According to Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the deal went kaput Friday afternoon when direct talks with the Thunder didn’t yield anything they liked better.

Brooklyn is "standing pat at this time," on a Lopez deal, Nets source tells Yahoo.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 16, 2015

Nets source: "There was nothing we liked."

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 16, 2015

TNT’s David Aldridge almost immediately corroborated that report, adding that Brooklyn isn’t just trying to offload salaries; they’re trying to find actual players that hold real value for their future:

Nets want to make moves, obviously, but they also want players back who'll fit w/Hollins's system, & aren't looking to just dump salary.

— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) January 16, 2015

Clearly, a deal for an expiring contract and, say, Jeremy Lamb wouldn’t have classified as a great move for the Nets if they are in fact not shipping off Lopez only to save money.

There were some talks that Brooklyn was interested in Minnesota’s Thaddeus Young, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com, and that a three-way deal with OKC could have potentially worked had Minnesota gotten involved, but it looks like the Wolves were about as interested in the Perkins expiring contract as everybody else who’s been offered it so far.

Whatever happens, the seriousness of these conversations proves that the Thunder may have made the right decision by holding onto Perkins rather than using the amnesty provision on him. If his expiring deal can serve as the key piece in landing a big fish like Lopez, all the misery of the last few seasons will have been worth it. There are other teams vying for Lopez as well, most notably the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.

For now, though, it looks like the talks have simmered down quite a bit, but there’s still over a month until the trade deadline hits; that’s plenty of time for something to be rekindled, especially for an organization like Brooklyn that is pretty clearly motivated to make some sort of splashy move.

Fathers and Sons in the NBA

On Thursday night, the L.A. Clippers consummated a trade for Austin Rivers that will, for the first time, put a son under the command of his father. In all the years in which the NBA and its predecessors have existed, this has never happened, so it’s perfectly appropriate to be excited about how this little experiment could ultimately play out.

Of course, while there haven’t been any father-son/player-coach combinations in the NBA before this one, there have been plenty of fathers and sons that have both played in the league, which is plenty impressive all on its own considering how small the odds are for one person in a family to make it that far as a professional hoops star.

The following are the most prestigious father-son combinations in the history of professional basketball:

#5 – Jim Paxson, Sr. begot Jim and John Paxson – The elder Jim was no star, but he’s one of only four men in NBA history to have fathered multiple children that would ultimately play in the NBA. In the case of the Paxson boys, both would also serve as the GMs of NBA teams, too. While John served as a key cog in Michael Jordan’s first three championships with the Bulls, Jim the younger put in 11 years a pro and was even named an All-Star twice in the 1980s.

#4 – Mychal Thompson begot Mychel and Klay Thompson – Mychal (spelled with an “a”) was the top overall pick in 1978, and while he never made an All-Star or an All-NBA team, he did win a couple of rings in the late ‘80s with the L.A. Lakers. His elder son Mychel (spelled with an “e”) was undrafted but enjoyed a brief stint with Cleveland back in 2011-2012. Now in the D-League, he gets to watch his baby brother Klay kill it for the hottest team in the NBA while making real noise as a potential All-Star in Golden State this year.

#3 – Jimmy Walker begot Jalen Rose – Unlike a lot of the other players on this list, Walker and Rose didn’t have a true father/son relationship. Rose in fact never actually met his father, a man who just so happened to be the #1 pick of the 1967 NBA Draft and a two-time NBA All-Star, in person. Despite the fact that Walker had no influence whatsoever on Rose’s upbringing, his son also grew up a basketball stud that was eventually taken in the first round of the NBA Draft. Now an analyst, Rose had a long, respectable NBA career and was named the Most Improved Player in 2000.

#2 – Dell Curry begot Stephen and Seth Curry – We’ll always remember Dell Curry as one of the most likeable sharpshooters of his generation, and clearly his son Stephen has caught that bug. Unlike father Dell, however, Stephen looks like he could have a shot at an MVP award at some point in his career, removing all doubt which of the Curry crew is king of the court. Stephen’s little brother Seth had a solid go at Duke but hasn’t been able to stick with an NBA team. He does have NBA experience, however, and while it is limited it does count in getting Dell on this list for having sired two future NBA players.

#1 – Rich Barry begot Jon Barry, Brent Barry and Drew Barry – Not only is Rick Barry a Hall-of-Famer and the oddest free-throw shooter of all time, he’s also the only guy to have passed on his NBA genes to three of his sons. While Jon, Brent and Drew failed to make quite the same mark on the league as their father, Jon and Brent did have good, long careers in the league. Brent even won a Slam Dunk Contest as a sophomore and a couple of rings with the San Antonio Spurs. The Barry family is NBA royalty. Imagine if Scooter had made it to the NBA, too!

Honorable Mention:

Butch van Breda Kolff begot Jan van Breda Kolff – Casual NBA fans have never heard of these two guys, but when Jan bumped up against his coach father in 1976, it marked the first time in league history that a father ever faced his son as a coach. There were plenty more to follow, obviously but they were the first.

Joe “Jellybean” Bryant begot Kobe Bryant – Jellybean was good (not great) as a player, but he’s the father of a top-20 all-time player. That gets him at least honorable mention.

Mike Dunleavy, Sr. begot Mike Dunleavy, Jr. – It took until Mike, Jr. got into the NBA for another coach to be given the opportunity to face off against his kid. Father and son both had solid NBA playing careers, with both men at one point playing for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Tim Hardaway, Sr. begot Tim Hardaway, Jr. – We’re still waiting to see if junior can come anywhere near to lining up with the accomplishments of his father. He’s still young, but there are plenty of people that still believe he’ll be a really good player. He’s in a big shadow, though.

Matt Goukas, Sr. begot Matt Goukas, Jr. – These two were the first father-son combo to both win championships as NBA players.

Dolph Schayes begot Danny Schayes – Daddy Dolph, a Hall-of-Famer, played all 16 years of his career with the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers, winning a ring in 1955 and being named to 12 All-Star teams and 12 All-NBA First and Second teams. Son Danny never was so prestigious but he was always reliable and did stay in the league for 18 years.

Bill Walton begot Luke Walton – Bill is an all-time great, both on the court and the microphone, so Luke always was going to have a hard time living up to the name. Despite that, he put together a solid career for himself and is now trying his hand at coaching. These two both won rings, too, only the third time in history that had ever happened.

The Rivers situation is a unique one and certainly be worth watching, but there are several of father/son combinations that have worked in this league, many of which have not been mentioned here. None were coached by their dads on the pro level, but plenty of guys have played for their dads before. Hopefully Austin’s experience under Doc is as positive as both guys hope it will be.