Landry Shamet’s trade from the Clippers to the Nets still hasn’t been cleared by the NBA, but within minutes of learning he was coming to Brooklyn, he celebrated on social media by rocking a Yankees cap and listening to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.”
“Hello Brooklyn!!!” Shamet tweeted after news broke of the three-team deal, which included the Pistons.
Shamet was on-brand, if nothing else. But the Nets hope he’s one of the league’s better young shooters — and possible insurance should Joe Harris leave in free agency. Shamet is not as seasoned or as tall (just 6-foot-4), but his shooting and movement off the ball should play well off Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Among active NBA players, the two-guard is the 14th-most accurate career 3-pointer shooter at 40.2 percent. And he was even better in his 2018-19 debut campaign, with a scalding 42.2 percent, ranking sixth-best all-time among rookies according to Elias Sports Bureau.
His 2019-20 season was disrupted after he suffered from COVID-19, and then had to recover and reintegrate after coronavirus. At just 23 years old, Shamet is not much older than some of the prospective draftees who would’ve been available to the Nets at No. 19, but he is far more proven for a win-now team.
The Nets acquired Shamet with the trade exception created when they dealt away Dzanan Musa two days earlier. Shamet is under contract for $2.1 million this season, $600,000 less than the Nets would’ve paid a rookie if they’d kept the pick.
Durant had cited shutting down Shamet as one of the keys to his Warriors beating Shamet’s Clippers in the first round of the 2019 Western Conference playoffs.
The three-team deal wasn’t the Nets’ only move on draft night. Late in the second round, they moved down a couple of spots from No. 55 to No. 57 and picked up Mississippi State’s 6-foot-10 Reggie Perry.
Projected to go as high as No. 38 by NBADraft.net, Perry was co-SEC Player of the Year. He averaged 17.4 points and 10.1 rebounds. He was even better in-league, at 19.2 points and 10.4 boards, and flashed an improving jumper.
“It definitely feels good to hear my name called,” Perry told the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss. “I was nervous but confident at the same time all throughout the second round. Playing in the NBA has been a dream of mine since I was little. I can’t wait to get to Brooklyn and get to work.
“I’m on a great team, a championship contending team, with great players. I know a lot of people in the front office, and I feel they have a lot of confidence in me. Mississippi State prepared me for the NBA by helping me mature on and off the court. The coaching staff made me a better leader, held me accountable and made sure I’d stayed in tip-top shape in the gym.”