Former Nets GM Billy King, an experienced basketball executive who also traded years and years of Nets first round draft picks away in a deal that never should have happened, reportedly seeks a return to an NBA front office. Here’s the New York Post with details:
Billy King knows he’ll always have to answer for The Trade, but the ex-Nets general manager would to answer for it if another NBA franchise will give him the chance.
King, now president of a startup television network, occasionally appears as a guest on NBATV but remains infamous for mortgaging the Nets’ future in what is considered the worst trade in NBA history. By some measures, it is the worst trade in sports history…
King was the GM who spearheaded the disastrous 2013 deal that brought Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry to Brooklyn. In return, the Celtics received everything but the lighting fixtures.
Gerald Wallace, MarShon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Keith Bogans and Kris Joseph were sent to Boston, along with, most damagingly, first-round draft picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018, as well as swap rights in 2017.
King will have to work hard to overcome this, presumably by pointing to his other work spanning many years, and perhaps by sharing more about the mindset behind that big Nets deal, which even as it happened was obviously a very risky, massive gamble that came up craps. He certainly has the personality to win people over if given a shot.
He is a good guy. And has been fun to listen to as an analyst on TV.
But man… that trade.
