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Which Nets Had the Biggest 'Bag Fumbles' Over Last 15 Years?
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- Which Nets Had the Biggest 'Bag Fumbles' Over Last 15 Years?
(USA TODAY Sports)
Despite a lack of overall playoff success over the past 15 years for the Brooklyn Nets , the team has made moves to be competitive, while being involved with some serious superstar level talent.
With these players comes hefty contracts, which the Nets have come out on the right side of most of the time.
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In late-August, Bleacher Report's Bryan Toporek listed the ten biggest "bag fumbles" of the last 15 years, ranking the players who left the most money on the table.
The Nets were involved with two deals, including the No. 1 spot.
After signing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving , James Harden was traded to Brooklyn, forming one of the deadliest offensive trios of all time.
Of course, it didn't result in a championship, but the team was plagued by missed time and developing drama between the stars.
Harden, who was coming off a recent MVP, was offered a three-year, $161 million contract extension by Brooklyn.
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He declined, trying to earn more money later in the year.
However, months later, Brooklyn shipped Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers , where he ended up signing a two-year, $68.6 million.
This deal was much below what he was eligible for, and Harden's relationship with Philly's front office quickly disintegrated.
Harden is still one of the most successful NBA players in NBA history in terms of on-court earnings, but he never got close to that initial price Brooklyn gave him, and has now become a bit of a journeyman late in his career.
The second Brooklyn-involved deal on the list is Donatas Motiejūnas, who signed a four-year, $37 million offer sheet with the franchise in 2016.
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Motiejūnas was one of the early stretch bigs of the NBA, and had become a contributor for the Houston Rockets in the mid-2010s.
For this reason, the Rockets matched Brooklyn's offer, but according to contractual stipulations, Houston was only required to pay $31 million of the original deal.
This caused a bit of a dispute, which led to Motiejūnas failing to show up to training camp.
Eventually, the two sides found common ground at a 4-year, $35 million later in the offseason, but the saga continued.
The Rockets discovered an issue during Motiejūnas' physical, renouncing his rights.
Instead of the original $50 million+ deal he was in line for, Motiejūnas signed a one-year, $1.5 million minimum-salary contract with the New Orleans Pelicans.
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From that time forward, he played less than half of the NBA season, and found himself out of the league.
Motiejūnas did carve out a role overseas, playing for the Shanghai Sharks most recently.
In these two cases, it seems that Brooklyn made out as the winner of the transactions.
