Report: Nets trade Royce O’Neale to Suns for 3 second-round picks; salaries
The Brooklyn Nets were approaching a crossroads with the 2023-24 NBA trade deadline of 3 PM ET approaching quickly and with the team having three veterans still on the roster. After dealing Spencer Dinwiddie to the Toronto Raptors earlier in the day, Brooklyn was able to trade away one of the two remaining veterans.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported on Thursday that the Nets were trading forward Royce O’Neale to the Phoenix Suns for three second-round picks and “salaries”. Charania later reported that this trade was being expanded to include the Memphis Grizzlies.
Charania did not specify what salaries were going to Brooklyn as the term seems to indicate minimum-contract players that the Suns are unloading for salary-matching purposes. In a subsequent report, Charania added that the players that Phoenix is sending out are Keita Bates-Diop, Jordan Goodwin, and Chimezie Metu, but did not specify which players were going to the Nets.
O’Neale, 30, played 125 games for the Nets over the past two seasons after being traded to Brooklyn from the Utah Jazz in the offseason heading into the 2022-23 season in exchange for a first-round pick. He averaged 8.3 points per game and shot 38% from three-point land.
Brooklyn is finalizing a trade sending Royce O’Neale to Phoenix for salaries and three second-round picks, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. pic.twitter.com/sSSXacDYVz
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 8, 2024
Reunion: Memphis is expected to acquire Yuta Watanabe from Suns as part of this three-team trade, sources said. Suns are sending out three other minimum salaries — Keita Bates-Diop, Jordan Goodwin, Chimezie Metu — too. https://t.co/6HHIBOUAHV
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 8, 2024
