The Brooklyn Nets played meaningful basketball in April. It’s been more than a few years since you could say that.
Part of their journey back to the playoffs can be credited to the 2017 offseason trade for castaway point guard D’Angelo Russell. The Nets front office gave up their best player (Brook Lopez) to take a chance on the Lakers’ former number two pick.
The result? Brooklyn’s first playoff berth since 2015, and their first All-Star representative since Joe Johnson in 2014. But once the Nets breached the postseason, their All-Star point guard was nowhere to be found.