Long Island tries to get better — it’d be hard to get worse — in trade for big. Will they benefit from Brooklyn’s big trade?
After an abysmal start to the G League season, in the so-called Tip-Off Tournament, the Long Island Nets are making moves to get better in the league’s regular season which opens this week.
After winning only two out of their 14 games in the Tip-Off, Long Island ‘s record resets to 0-0 in the regular season. So the Nets affiliate knew it had to make some changes to have a good regular season, and it looks like those changes are fully underway. Last week, they traded Patrick Gardner, their only big man at 6’11”, to the Osceola Magic in exchange for 6’8” Tre Scott.
Then in Long Island’s latest move, announced Monday, they traded for Drew Timme, a 6’10” three-time All-American at Gonzaga who had been playing for the Stockton Kings. In the deal, a three-team trade, Nets combo guard Amari Bailey was sent to the Iowa Wolves.
Timme (pronounced “Timmy”) played in 12 games in the Tip-Off Tournament, averaging 11.9 points per game, while also managing to grab 6.2 rebounds per game. Timme also has shown he can get the ball to his teammates, averaging nearly three assists per game, 2.6 to be exact.
Timme was a very talented college player for the Gonzaga Bulldogs and had summer stints with both the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings before being waived and sent to their G League affiliates in 2023 and 2024. He has a long list of accolades which include being named a consensus All-America three years, winning the Karl Malone Award given to the top college power forward, in 2021. He was also twice named WCC Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023. A four year player, he went undrafted in 2023.
Long Island sent over one of the NBA G-League’s best bench players, to the Wolves in Bailey who averaged 14.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game.
In addition to its own two trades, Long Island may benefit from Brooklyn’s two trades this month. The Nets acquired two-way point guard, Reece Beekman, from the Warriors in the Dennis Schroder trade and wing Maxwell Lewis in Sunday’s Dorian Finney-Smith deal. Lewis, who’s on a standard NBA deal, played most of the season on assignment to the South Bay Lakers, L.A.’s G League affiliate.
Despite nothing being announced, at least yet, it seems more likely than not that we we’ll see Lewis spend some time on Long Island to learn the Nets at the very least Lewis came to the Nets as a part of the trade which sent Shake Milton and Dorian Finney-Smith to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lewis didn’t play much with the Lakers, so it’s still a little bit of a mystery exactly what he brings to the team. However, he has some notable size at 6’7” with a 7’0” wingspan and seems very talented athletically for someone of that height. Lewis could provide some of what Long Island’s been missing at bit since AJ Lawson signed with Toronto: offense at the wing…
Lewis, taken at No. 40 in the 2023 draft, was averaging 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds before the trade
The Long Island Nets have also re-signed 6’3” guard Terry Roberts who played with them last season. Back in February, Roberts was shot in the chest outside of a Philadelphia bar. He suffered a chest wound and had to be put on a ventilator. Roberts, a native of North Amityville who made the roster as a local tryout, made a full recovery and now finds himself back on Long Island, one of its biggest feel-good stories of the season.
The revamped Long Island Nets kick off their regular season tonight in Delaware against the Delaware Blue Coats at 7:00 p.m. ET. It’s uncertain who among the team’s new players will be on hand. The game can be watched on the NBA G-League and Long Island Nets’ respective websites. NetsDaily will be on hand.