NEW YORK — Eighteen years later, the tale of the copy machine comes full circle.
Kyle Korver’s arrival in Brooklyn as a coaching consultant brings along a very New Jersey Nets-ian story of intertwining his career with office equipment.
It’s an exaggeration, as with most things this amusing, to claim Korver was traded for a copy machine. But it’s easy enough to connect the dots.
In 2003, the Nets were coming off an NBA Finals and had little use for their 51st overall pick. So they sold it to the Sixers for $125,000.
“There were no roster spots,” said Bobby Marks, the ESPN analyst who, at the time, was the Director of Basketball Operations for the Nets. “We had a veteran-laden team. When you’re picking that late in the draft, you’re moving it for a future second or you’re trading it for cash.”
Billy King, the former Sixers GM, used that pick on Korver, the sharpshooting guard from Creighton who fell to the second round because he lacked strength and quickness.
Behind the scenes, the Nets ownership group — spearheaded by Lewis Katz — was preparing to sell the team, agreeing about seven months later for $300 million with Bruce Ratner. They operated with a tight budget in the interim, and the $125,000 was thrown into the credit pot for basketball operations.
The bulk reportedly funded the Nets’ Summer League trip that year, but Marks recalled that about $500 went to a new copier and fax machine in a 2-for-1 deal. In the context of today’s NBA, the trade looks silly because of the league’s vast economic growth. Just last month, for instance, the Clippers bought the 51st pick for $2.5 million, according to Marks.
But in 2003, the rate was 2000% less.
“When we did the trade, it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do with the money, we’re going to get a copy machine,’ ” said Marks, who worked in the Nets front office for 20 years until leaving in 2015. “It was kind of like when you’re going through your budget a month later and you have $125,000 in extra money because we traded the second-pick, you say, ‘What can you use that for?’ ”
So what happened to the copier? According to Marks, the machine broke down after a solid run at the team’s old practice facility in East Rutherford.
Korver, meanwhile, played 17 seasons and set multiple 3-point records. He ranks fourth all-time in 3-pointers made, behind only Ray Allen, Steph Curry and Reggie Miller, with one appearance at the All-Star Game and two in the NBA Finals.
At 40 years old and retired from playing, Korver finally found his way to the Nets. The poor copy machine never stood a chance.
“If we knew Kyle Korver was going to be the 51st pick, we would’ve all decided the copy machine wasn’t as important,” joked Marks, who was working under then-GM Rod Thorn. “The copier had a good run but it didn’t get us into the conference finals.”
