Brooklyn Nets Must Look To Trade Kris Humphries

Of all the salaries the Brooklyn Nets (who are well over the salary cap) have on the books for the 2013-2014 season, there’s one that the organization needs to address hastily in the form of a trade — and we’re talking the ‘Barclay’s Center exterior is hypothetically painted purple overnight as a prank’ kind of haste.

That salary belongs to veteran forward Kris Humphries, who is due a walloping $12 million next year.

With averages of merely 5.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per games this season, Humphries struggled so mightily that he eventually lost his starting job in favor of Reggie Evans. He was never able to reclaim that spot, as he started just 21 of 65 games on the year.

Common knowledge or not, the ongoing divorce settlement that Humphries had with the star that made him a household name for both basketball and non-basketball fans alike, Kim Kardashian, can’t be used as an excuse for him dropping off to less than six and six per night after posting career highs of 13.8 points and 11 rebounds per game the previous season.

The fact of the matter is that lingering personal issues or not, Humphries was not going to repeat those numbers anyway. After putting that season under a microscope, you’ll recall that Humphries played on an awful 22-44 team that didn’t have center and No. 2 scoring option Brook Lopez for all but five games due to injury.

Then you consider that along with the return of Lopez this season, Brooklyn re-signed point guard Deron Williams and traded for shooting guard Joe Johnson. Lopez’s presence inevitably meant less rebounding opportunities for Humphries, and having him start with all three of them was clearly going to leave him with less shot attempts.

In order for Humphries to have more of an impact next season, he would have to be on the floor for more than the 18.3 minutes he averaged this year. However, with the depth the Nets possess, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon.

Therefore, Brooklyn’s first option should be seeking to trade Humphries this offseason. Paying an average-at-best bench player $12 million would be reminiscent of something only former New York Knicks GM Isiah Thomas would be okay with doing.

Using the amnesty clause to release Humphries, free of any salary cap or luxury tax implications, would have been the easier route, but teams are only allowed to amnesty one player in the duration of the new collective bargaining agreement, which the Nets did with forward Travis Outlaw during the 2011-2012 season.

The likelihood of even the most desperate team wanting to pay Humphries $12 million is beyond low, so the best bet for the Nets is to eat a portion of his salary in a deal this offseason and get anything or anyone valuable in return.

It’s absolutely crucial that this is the first player contract situation Brooklyn looks to take care of this summer.

Because, seriously, $12 million for a bench player?

Mike B. Ruiz is a Brooklyn Nets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikebruiz and “Like” him on Facebook.