Brooklyn Nets Depth Chart Updated: Starting 5 lineup explored with Lonnie Walker on roster

The Brooklyn Nets have had a busy start to the off-season. Recently, the Eastern Conference franchise has added Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV and retained Cameron Johnson on a four-year $108 million deal.

The Nets have also seen some players leave, with Joe Harris being traded to the Detroit Pistons and Patty Mills heading to the Houston Rockets. Brooklyn added Noah Clowney with the 21st pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Dariq Whitehead with the 22nd selection and Jalen Wilson with the 51st pick.

Hence, the Brooklyn Nets roster will look rather different from the one we saw close out last season. Here's the Nets' projected depth chart.

Guards	Ben Simmons	Spencer Dinwiddie	Dennis Smith Jr.	Cameron Thomas	Lonnie Walker IV	Edmond Sumner
Forwards	Mikal Bridges	Cameron Johnson	Royce O'Neale	Dorian Finney-Smith	Noah Clowney	Dariq Whitehead	Jalen Wilson
Bigs	Nicolas Claxton	Day'Ron Sharpe

The Brooklyn Nets have been rebuilding their rotation since the Feb. 9 trade deadline, where they lost Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant - who both handed in trade requests. Those requests come shortly after James Harden had asked out of the franchise and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Thus, the Brooklyn Nets could give plenty of developmental minutes to their recent draft picks, along with some of their more established young talent, as they look to navigate another rebuild to develop a contending roster.

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Brooklyn Nets could trade Ben Simmons

According to Greg Sylvander of Five Reasons Sports, the Brooklyn Nets could look to help facilitate a deal that would send James Harden to the Miami Heat, in return for removing Ben Simmons from the roster.

"As Dame to Miami deal continues to be worked on, I’m told at least one challenge in negotiations has been the fact BKN wants to ship out Ben Simmons as part of this deal," Sylvander tweeted.

"The sticking point being that no team is particularly interested in taking him so far, per source."

Ben Simmons has been unable to recapture his early-career form since joining Brooklyn. It now appears that the franchise are willing to part ways with the non-shooting guard as they look to continue revamping their roster around young and talented wing players.

Last season, Simmons played 42 regular-season games, averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists per contest. That's a far cry from his dominant numbers from when he first entered the NBA.

So, it makes sense that the Nets would look to cut ties with the embattled guard. Simmons has been unable to build on his strong start to life in the NBA as he struggles to garner interest from teams around the league. That's why he could be a throw-in to facilitate a potential Damian Lillard trade later this summer.