Should the Brooklyn Nets have traded up in the 2023 NBA Draft?

The Brooklyn Nets had a solid 2023 NBA Draft since they were able to come away with three talented players who could be important players for the team in the near future. However, there are some who believe that Brooklyn made a mistake by not using one or both of their first-round picks to move up in the draft.

In a recent article by Sir Charles In Charge, Michael Saenz said that one of the worst moves that the Nets made this offseason was not moving up in the draft to get a player with more upside. Brooklyn had the 21st and 22nd overall picks, but instead of using those picks to make a trade of some sort, they instead used the picks on forward Noah Clowney and wing Dariq Whitehead, respectively.

In fact, Jonathan Givony of ESPN reported leading up to the draft that the Nets were believed to be looking to trade up in the draft so if that indeed was the case, it looks like they didn’t have takers for whatever they were offering. With that being said, coming away from the draft with the two first-round picks and forward Jalen Wilson in the second-round seems like a good haul.

Could the Nets have traded up far enough to draft someone like Dereck Lively II (12th overall pick to the Dallas Mavericks) or Jordan Hawkins (14th overall pick to the New Orleans Pelicans)? Sure, but it depends on what it would’ve taken to acquire either of those spots and since there hasn’t been any reporting on what those costs were, one can only assume that Brooklyn made the best choice at the time.

Story originally appeared on Nets Wire