NBA Trade Rumors: Brooklyn Nets shopping two potential difference-makers?

NBA Trade Rumors: The latest rumor musings have the Brooklyn Nets shopping two potential difference-makers ahead of the trade deadline.

With the NBA Trade Deadline a mere few weeks away, there are likely to be more than a few teams looking to add a piece or two before the stretch run. While there are expected to be many buyers, at least for now, it's hard to predict who the sellers will be. All but six teams are still within shouting distance of a spot in the Play-In Tournament.

But that is expected to change over the course of the next couple of weeks. There's an expectation that at least a handful of teams will begin to take their foot off the gas pedal and resign to the fact that they should embrace being sellers at the trade deadline, even if they don't want to.

One of those teams could be the Brooklyn Nets. Currently, the Nets are 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. However, they're 4.5 games back of the 8th seed and 6.5 games back of the 6th seed. It's pretty safe to say that even if the Nets make the Play-In Tournament, it's unlikely that they're going to make any noise even if they manage to make the postseason.

According to a recent report, if the Nets do end up getting to a place where they embrace being a seller at the trade deadline, two names that could likely be on the move are Royce O'Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith.

The Brooklyn Nets could trade two key contributors to a contender

While neither O'Neale nor Finney-Smith moves the needle alone on the Nets, they're both players who could end up playing a valuable role for a contender down the stretch. Both are good 3-and-D role players who could emerge as a final piece addition for a playoff team looking to take another step forward.

O'Neale is in the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. On the other hand, Finney-Smith has one guaranteed year remaining on his contract and a player option for 2025-26. Even then, Finney-Smith is on a very affordable roster - he's due $14.9 million next season and has a $15.3 million open the following season.

If there's a contender out there looking for two-way players on the wing in an attempt to add some depth ahead of the trade deadline, they should look no further than the Nets.