Deron Williams, Joe Johnson & Brook Lopez Trade; Brooklyn Nets Targeting Young Stars, Putting 'Big Three' on Block After Slow Start to 2014 Season

The Brooklyn Nets are looking at trades for their star Big Three -- Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez. With the Nets season looking like it could slip away at any moment and the team playing a disjointed, incohesive style that has them mired in the middle of the NBA pack, could they ship one or all three of their highly-paid stars out to the LA Lakers, Orlando Magic or Sacramento Kings?

As ESPN's Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk reported, "The Brooklyn Nets have begun reaching out to teams to let them know that former All-Stars Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson are all available via trade."

Story going online now co-scribed with @NotoriousOHM: ESPN sources say Nets have made D-Will, Brook Lopez & Joe Johnson available via trade

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) December 9, 2014

After last night's 110-88 loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers — a game attended by, as Mstars News reported, the British royal couple Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton — the Nets are off to a slow start for the 2014-15 season. They currently sit at 8 wins and 11 losses, holding down the eighth spot in the conference and having just offered two brutal home court blow-outs at the hands of the Cavs (and last Friday's 98-75 laugher to the Atlanta Hawks).

The Williams, Johnson and Lopez trio is the highest paid 'Big Three' in the NBA — earning a combined $58.7 million — but the results of the past three years certainly have not lived up to their pay packets. With the Nets staring down a $94 million payroll this year it seems like they're about to start tightening their belt, with their aim being "to construct a deal or two that bring back sufficient talent that enables the Nets remain a playoff team" according to Stein and Youngmisuk.

Nets Daily's Reed Wallach reported that the Nets are "receiving calls as well as sending" for the trio.

When asked if the #Nets are receiving calls as well as sending out calls for Lopez, Johnson, DWill, a league source said "both."

— Reed Wallach (@ReedWallach) December 9, 2014

Sports Illustrated, however pointed out, "The Nets are not close to trading any of them at this point", but that the team are "making the players" available in trade talks, and Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted out that there's nothing in the works right now, saying that the only imminent deal the Nets have is to ship Andrei Kirilenko to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Only one real trade in the works for Brooklyn: Once more, Nets-76ers trying to complete an Andrei Kirilenko deal, league sources tell Yahoo.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 9, 2014

As for where the trip could end up, Williams has long been linked to the LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings, while Johnson could end up anywhere that needs a disgruntled slow shoot-first shooting guard who is willing to hog the ball and call out his teammates.

Before the season, Hoops Habit looked at a number of potential trades for Brook Lopez, offering up the Denver Nuggets for Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, and Darrell Arthur, as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves (for Nikola Pekovic and Alexey Shved, who's no longer with the team) and as a sign and trade with the Phoenix Suns for Eric Bledsoe. Of those three, the Nuggets idea seems like the most realistic (however lopsided), as any potential Bledsoe addition would mean the Nets would have to move Deron Williams as well and the Timberwolves package needing more than just Pekovic.

Any movement, however, is likely to be hindered by each of the three's mammoth contracts. As The Bleacher Report points out, Lopez is likely to gain the most interest around the league, "as he's the youngest of that trio," but Williams might "be the final piece for a playoff push" for a team in the playoff hunt.

What would you like to see the Nets do? Where would you like to see them ship off Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez or Deron Williams? Who would you like to see them receive in return?