The Brooklyn Nets are trading forwards Bojan Bogdanovic and Chris McCullough to the Washington Wizards, according the multiple sources.

In return the Nets are receiving forward Andrew Nicholson, guard Marcus Thornton and a lottery-protected 2017 first-round draft pick.

On the eve of the NBA’s trade deadline, the Nets couldn’t wait to make a splash.  Washington was looking for a scoring punch off the bench and seems to have found that in Bogdanovic, who is averaging 14.2 points per game in this third season in the NBA.

McCullough is still developing, and has played just 72 minutes for the Nets this year. The 22-year-old power forward has spent a lot of time with the Long Island Nets of the D-League and was named to its All-Star team this season.  The Nets drafted him with the 29th overall pick in the 2015 draft.

The most important piece of this deal for the Nets was the acquisition of another 2017 first-round pick.  Barring a collapse, the Wizards will make the playoffs, meaning the Nets will have two first-round picks in June’s loaded draft.  They have to swap picks with the Boston Celtics, so it is looking like the Nets will be making both of their selections in the 20’s range.

Nicholson is a young player who signed a four-year, $26 million deal with the Wizards this past summer.  He was a first-round pick of the Orlando Magic back in 2012, but has only appeared in 28 games for Washington this season.

Thornton is a bench scorer who can get extremely hot from the floor.  He played for the Nets for half a season back in 2013-14. Update: The Nets are expected to waive Thornton, which gives them an open roster spot and leads me to believe they’re not done making trades.

My take:  Bogdanovic is a nice player, but he’s not worth the price of a first-round pick by himself.  He will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, so he could only be a three month rental for the Wizards.  Washington also gave up a valuable draft pick because the Nets agreed to absorb two contracts into their open cap space.  The Wizards could use that cap room to sign Otto Porter Jr. to a long-term deal during the offseason.  Even with taking on Nicholson’s contract, Brooklyn still has an estimated $13 million in cap space and remains roughly $6 million under the league’s salary cap floor.

What does this mean for Brook Lopez?  The Nets’ star center often finds his name in trade rumors this time of year, but with two 2017 first-round picks already in tow, it looks like he will at least stay put for the remainder of the season.  The Nets still want to see how he fits in with Jeremy Lin, and whether or not the team can build around the pair moving forward.

GM Sean Marks has done a fantastic job since taking over for Billy King a year ago.  He’s acquired two first-round picks after King left the cupboard extremely bare.  Caris LeVert looks like a solid NBA player with star potential, and now the Nets can add two more young players in June.

There’s also the option of the Nets packaging both of their picks to move up in the draft.  The point here is that by acquiring more assets, the Nets will be able to make moves that will help expedite their long rebuild.  That is something all Nets coaches, players and fans will all sign up for.