5:34 p.m.: According to press releases from both teams, the trade is official.
2:05 p.m.: That jazz act starting forward Royce O’Neale to the nets for a first-round pick, Shams Charania from The Athletic tweets.
Brooklyn uses a $11.3M trade exception it created in James Harden Trading Philadelphia, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.
The pick on the road to Utah is a 2023 first-rounder, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Brooklyn sends the smaller of its own, Houston’s or Philadelphia’s first-round picks, Wojnarowski adds another tweet.
The Sixers sent their first all-rounder to the Nets for next season in the same Harden deal. Houston has the right to trade his pick with Brooklyn’s next season thanks to the four-way trade in 2021 that landed Harden in Brooklyn.
O’Neale has a salary of $9.2 million next season and $9.5 million in 2023-24. However, the last year is only guaranteed for $2.5 million.
Known for his defensive skills, O’Neale has been a staple of Utah’s lineup for the past three seasons. He averaged 7.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 2.5 APG at 31.2 MPG last season while appearing in 77 regular season games.
O’Neale’s acquisition will likely reduce the possibility of the Nets re-signing free agent Swingman Bruce Brown. On the other hand, Utah’s decision to trade one of its starters signals that more moves are to come. The first rounder will give him an advantage that he can release for another trade.