Nets rejected trickery attempt from Houston

INDIANAPOLIS — Brooklyn’s plan for its future is to bet against Phoenix’s.

Apparently, Houston has the same idea, banking on the Suns’ prospects being worse than the Nets’.

Both The Post and Hoopshype had reported that Nets general manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai had rejected Houston’s offer to return most of the Nets’ picks (sent out in the James Harden trade) for Mikal Bridges. Now comes a report from The Houston Chronicle about another approach from the Rockets.

With the June 26 NBA Draft expected to be one of the worst in recent memory, and the Rockets packed with young players already, Houston GM Rafael Stone called Marks in January looking to offer the Nets’ picks back in exchange for the ones they hold from the Phoenix Suns courtesy of the Kevin Durant blockbuster.

Brooklyn quickly dismissed the offer, partly in hopes of pursuing a Play-In spot and largely to cling to those Suns picks.

Though the Nets’ finished 32-50 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2017-18, league execs consider those Suns picks to be golden assets.

In an exhaustive analysis before this season started, CBS Sports evaluated all 56 traded picks on draft boards through 2030, and assessed that Brooklyn held four of the six most valuable — topped by the 2029 pick from Phoenix.

Considering the Suns’ firstround sweep, Durant’s frustration and Bradley Beal’s cap-eating, league-worst contract, shorting the Suns seems like an even better idea than it did a year ago — one the Rockets share.