Long Island has been trading picks for vets as they prepare for Brooklyn’s rookies.
On Monday, the Long Island Nets finalized a trade with the Windy City Bulls to acquire David Muoka for a first and a second-round pick in the G League draft. With the rumored move now official, the 6’10” 24-year-old Hong Kongese big man is part of Long Island’s roster.
Indeed, with a little over a month to go before opening night at the Nassau Coliseum — against the Capital City Go-Go — the Nets G League roster is starting to take shape.
Muoka is the team’s latest acquisition in a busy summer. Each is a G League vet:
- Yuri Collins, a 6’0” point guard who led the G League in assists with the Santa Cruz Warriors;
- Malachi Smith, a 6’4” shooting guard formerly with the Memphis Hustle;
- Max Fielder, a 6’11” center who spent last season with the Texas Legends;
- Kyle Rose, a 6’4” shooting guard who starred at Fordham and played for the Mexico City Capitanes;
- Tre Scott, a 6’8” power forward who last played for the Osceola Magic, and
- E.J. Liddell, a 6’6” wing who Brooklyn signed to a two-way. He played for the Bulls affiliate.
Other than Liddell, Long Island acquired each player in a trade, mostly using G League draft assets. Long Island is also expected to sign Dre Davis, a 6’6” 3-and-D wing who like Muoka and Collins was signed to a standard deal — with an $85,000 guarantee — then waived by Brooklyn earlier this month.
“The guys that we acquired for this year are more veteran guys,” said Long Island Nets head coach Mfon Udofia last week, adding, “Those guys add to the mix, who will be down on Long Island, and get them (the rookies) up to speed as much as possible.”
In addition, Long Island is bringing back two veteran guards who played at the Coliseum last season: Tyson Etienne, the 6’2” shooting guard who the Nets signed to a tw0-year two-way deal last season, and Terry Roberts, the 6’4” point guard who also played with Brooklyn’s Summer League entry.
The rookies Udofia mentioned are, of course, the five first rounders, aka the Flatbush 5: Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf as well as Fanbo Zheng, who Brooklyn signed last week to an Exhibit 10. Most if not all of them are likely to spend some time in the G League.
Among the new Long Islanders, the Net who’s likely to play the biggest role in mentoring the rooks is Collins, the G League’s top playmaker. He appeared in 49 games last season between the NBA G League Tip-Off Tournament and the regular season. He averaged 13.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 10.2 assists, and 1.3 steals in 32.2 minutes per game. His 10.8 assists per game in the regular season led the league.
In addition all of this, Long Island is hoping to find its diamond in the rough from their annual local player tryouts . Close to 150 prospects, split between two sessions, hoped to find their spot on the roster. This is something that has spelled success for Long Island in the past.
The most likely to get a G League deal was Romani Hansen. Hansen is a former captain of the U.S. Virgin Islands Men’s National Team who grew up in the Bronx.. He stands at 6’9” and has a pretty lengthy resume. He played college ball at Pensacola State, Independence CC, Savannah State, and Albany from 2016 through 2020, before going overseas to play some more in Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg, Lebanon and most recently, Venezuela.
Long Island training camp opens at the end of October with the season opener on November 7 at Nassau Coliseum vs. the Capital City Go-Go.
Category: General Sports
