Brooklyn Nets Waive Guard

The Brooklyn Nets arguably won the NBA Trade Deadline when they shipped out a malcontent James Harden and veteran Paul Millsap in exchange for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks.  As result, there is plenty of optimism in Brooklyn moving forward despite the fact that the team has lost 10 games in a row (!) and Kevin Durant is out indefinitely with an MCL injury.  The new-look Nets improved their depth, size, defense, and shooting and collected valuable future assets in what many analysts are calling a one-sided deal - with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith going as far as to say that this could go down as the worst day in the career of 76ers GM Daryl Morey.  

As a result of the transaction, the Nets have one too many players on their roster - which forced the team to waive someone to make room for the additions of Simmons, Curry, and Drummond.  Many reporters pointed to one of either Blake Griffin or James Johnson as the likely candidates to trim the Nets roster down to 15:

I'm curious to see what happens next. The Nets currently have 16 players rostered and want to bring Kessler Edwards to a standard contract. Again, a consolidation trade would've helped here. The move might be to waive one (or more) of Bruce Brown, James Johnson, or Blake Griffin.

— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) February 10, 2022

It was reported that the Nets went in a different direction, however, opting to waive sixth-year guard/forward DeAndre Bembry instead.  Bembry has been a solid contributor for the Nets and will likely find another team soon.  Bembry is an aggressive defender and while he isn't a prolific scorer, the 27-year-old swingman is averaging 5.8 points per game shooting an ultra-efficient 56.8% from the field and 41.7% from three in 48 appearances this season.  

While it may not be a flashy pickup, Bembry can help a lot of teams right away with his defensive prowess and his unselfish nature on offense.  Bembry is the type of player that superstars like to play with.

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