Brooklyn’s Next Nets: Trendon Watford

We wrap up this brief mini-series with the last of Brooklyn’s bargain-bin finds, Trendon Watford. He may turn out to be much more than that.

None of the young(-ish) Brooklyn Nets we’ve analyzed so far in this mini-series — Tosan Evbuomwan, Tyrese Martin, and Keon Johnson,— entered 2024-2025 with high expectations.

Evbuomwan, a two-way player, didn’t even land in the borough until the calendar flipped. Martin was on a two-way contract through the All-Star break, and Johnson was trying to build off a strong Las Vegas Summer League performance, one that earned him a standard contract.

All three of those players are already success stories, but it’s not certain any of them will become above-average NBA players. A little production here and there is found money, and that’s what they’ve offered Brooklyn this season.

Trendon Watford, on the other hand, earned himself some higher expectations. Brooklyn leaned into the ex-Portland Trail Blazer as a true ball-handler in 2023-24, and it paid dividends in the spring. He scored in double-digits in eight of Brooklyn’s final 11 games of the season, and the ball was in his hands. He’d handle some pick-and-roll, use handoff-actions, or post-up, but the vision had crystallized: Ball-handling wouldn’t be some accessory to his game at 6’9”, but a feature.

Over the summer, he accepted a qualifying offer from the Nets, meaning he’ll hit unrestricted free agency this summer. Unfortunately for Watford, he’s appeared in just 19 games this season due to left hamstring trouble.

Hopefully — for both and the team — that’s in the past. Not only does Watford have an opportunity to make himself some money, but the Nets have cherished his production off the bench…

PBP Stats

With Ben Simmons on America’s opposite coast, Watford is firmly entrenched as the backup point guard, though he closed Brooklyn’s final pre-ASB game, a victory against the Philadelphia 76ers, playing next to D’Angelo Russell.

Though Watford has yet to truly catch a rhythm this season, twice interrupted by that left hammy, there have been positive signs.

Namely, his turnovers are down, and his 3-point volume is up. In Brooklyn’s last two games, both wins, Watford posted 31 points, shot 3-of-6 from three, and assisted five times to just one turnover. We’ve come a long way since he roasted me on Twitter last season, after I said his minutes were being capped by a lack of outside shooting…

I get it. Watford can shoot the ball; most of his 3-point attempts are of the stand-still, catch-and-shoot variety, but he’s 73-of-207 from range in his career. That’s over 35%, and over his two seasons in Brooklyn, he’s over 37%; the problem is the volume. If teams aren’t going to defend him beyond the arc, and they often haven’t been, the percentages don’t mean much.

But as most Nets have under Head Coach Jordi Fernández, Watford has upped the 3-point volume in a major way this season. He’s taking almost six 3PA per 100 possessions, nearly double his career-average. (Of course, sample size beware; he’s at just 328 minutes in 2024-25.)

This, of course, is but a complement to the rest of his game. Watford shows the promise of true versatility on offense, being able to create shots at the rim through many play-types. Here he is posting a cross-match after a switch, and it’s two points…

Of course, he can isolate into that short-floater area, where a ton of his shots come from.

Despite his solid touch, those looks are not automatic. Basketball Reference tracks Watford as shooting 86-of-176, or 48.9% in his Nets career from floater-range (from 3-10 feet). That’s fine offense, particularly in a pinch, but nothing to write home about.

As Watford gets more comfortable during Brooklyn’s final 28 games, even more passing would be nice, particularly spray-outs to 3-point shooters…

It’s tough to say what Watford’s best-case profile is on the other end of the court.

He hasn’t shown the interior positioning and/or vertical explosion to be a threat around the rim, despite standing a solid 6’9”. If he’s going to be the second-biggest player in a lineup, Brooklyn’s center needs to do a ton of rebounding and rim-protection. If Watford is going to be the third-biggest guy in a lineup, then he really needs to space the floor and shoot the ball, and defensives lapses like this need to go…

Over his 328 minutes this year, Watford has hustled his butt off, and displayed active hands on the perimeter. He should fit right into Brooklyn’s defensive scheme over these final 28 games, being aggressive at the point-of-attack and using his length to direct drives toward the sideline, concepts I covered here.

Despite the criticisms, Trendon Watford has played well this season. The Nets would not be 6-1 in their last seven games had he not returned at the right time, and they would not have beaten Philadelphia had he not closed the game. Watford does not appear to be a gimmicky player off the bench, but a jumbo-sized ball-handler capable of ripping off an 8-0 run against opposing reserves at any moment.

That’s a positive NBA player right there, someone capable of fulfilling Sean Marks’ quest to find the “next Nets” this season, a diamond in the rough. This isn’t the first time Watford has shown such promise. Otherwise, his all-in-one impact metrics wouldn’t paint him as a serviceable role player, which ProfessorB noted.

Still, Watford turns 25 years old at the beginning of next season. His strong play mustn’t be a blip on the radar, but a new standard.

If that’s the case, the Brooklyn Nets may have a real player on their hands, and Sean Marks just might have found a guy for the future.