Nets pursuing Pierce, KG

The Brooklyn Nets, in their latest ambitious move, are trying to construct a trade with the Boston Celtics that would enable Brooklyn to land Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The Nets are trying to tempt the Celtics with a package headlined by three future first-round picks that would also potentially include Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace and Tornike Shengelia.
Sources told ESPN.com that no trade that would bring both Pierce and Garnett to the Nets could happen before July 10, the first date Pierce's 2013-14 salary could be included in the trade.

Yahoo! Sports reported the Nets' pursuit of Garnett and Pierce as a package. The New York Daily News reported earlier this week that the Nets were chasing Garnett, who has a no-trade clause in his contract. Sources told ESPN.com the Nets hatched the idea of trying to acquire both Boston stalwarts in the same deal because Pierce's inclusion is seen as the surest way to persuade Garnett to waive his no-trade clause.
Pierce has a team option for $15.3 million that the Celtics would have to pick up by week's end for such a deal to have any shot in July. Because Pierce is making nearly $17 million this season, Brooklyn needs the deal to wait until after the start of free agency and the lifting of the league's annual moratorium on transactions July 10, since the $15.3 million figure is used in the trade.
It's believed the Celtics would have reservations about taking on the final three years and $30 million owed to Wallace, given that the future first-round picks they would receive from the Nets likely would be nonlottery picks. Sources say the Nets are trying to expand the trade to take on either Jason Terry or Courtney Lee to make the deal more enticing for Boston.

The addition of Garnett and Pierce to the trio of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez would appear to give the Nets one of the most formidable rosters in the NBA under rookie coach Jason Kidd.
Earlier this offseason, Boston denied the Nets permission to contact then-head coach Doc Rivers, who eventually left to coach the Los Angeles Clippers.
But the Celtics, now that Rivers has departed, are a team in transition that is said to be looking to accelerate the rebuilding process by chasing draft picks and creating cap space.