Why Royce O’Neale has been the Nets steadiest player all season

NEW YORK — Royce O’Neale’s tenure as a Net started in chaos.

When the veteran wing found out he was getting traded from the Utah Jazz to Brooklyn in late June 2022, the news broke nearly simultaneously with Kevin Durant’s original request for a trade from the Nets.

At the moment, the trade for O’Neale became secondary and raised some skepticism. Why were the Nets trading for a 3-and-D wing, a piece they greatly needed the season prior, only to send away their franchise player?

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“I was excited and everything,” O’Neale reflected to The Athletic on the trade. “… Five minutes later, he requested a trade.”

Of course, Durant rescinded his trade request in August and played until spraining his knee in January before getting dealt to Phoenix a month later, which followed Kyrie Irving’s trade to Dallas. But throughout the Nets’ drama this season, O’Neale has been a constant. He’s played in 69 of 73 games and is averaging 8.9 points and 3.7 assists per game, both career-highs. In O’Neale’s six years in the NBA, he’s increased his scoring production every season. His 39.3 percent clip from 3 is another career-best.

For a player who had to start his career in Europe before sticking in the NBA, O’Neale has become a textbook “glue guy” in Brooklyn. Every player and coach interviewed for this story has gone out of their way to use the term when talking about the 6-foot-6 forward.

“He’s the definition of a glue guy,” said Jeff Green, Nuggets forward who played with O’Neale in Utah and remains a close friend. “All the teammates he’s had, every kind of situation he’s been in Utah, getting traded here, he’s been the guy that did a little bit of everything. He was the one who kept guys together, kept the room live. Somebody you can fit in any kind of system, any kind of place.”

For the first half of the season, O’Neale started alongside Durant and Irving and ranked among the league leaders in minutes played. Since the trade, he’s come off the bench and his impact hasn’t changed. He was plus-60 during the Nets’ three-game winning streak in early March and has played everything from point guard to center. The player the Nets chose over re-signing Bruce Brown has essentially taken the same role Brown had in Brooklyn. Maybe it’s helped that his trade to the Nets coincided with Durant’s request, giving him an idea of what to expect in Brooklyn instead of being blindsided.

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“I feel like everything works out the way it’s supposed to,” O’Neale said. “Me not having that uncertainty but knowing it’s a new chapter, new opportunity and just taking advantage no matter who’s on the team and be myself and just keep going.”

When O’Neale was coming out of Baylor in 2015, he wasn’t on NBA teams’ radars. He was a role player for the Bears for two years after transferring from the University of Denver at a time when Baylor had a bevy of NBA talent, including Taurean Prince, Jonathan Motley and Ish Wainright. His stats were fine but not eye-popping. His coaches thought he was a little heavy and his 6-6 frame needed work.

After a summer league stint with the Celtics, he wound up with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in Germany, coached by John Patrick, an American who has a track record of getting players onto better teams after they play for him. Patrick’s system was a little ahead of its time, and it helped O’Neale’s career. Patrick played a four-out lineup with a traditional center and the roles of the guards and wings were similar, making the team close to positionless.

O’Neale said Europe made him a better all-around player and prepared him for the NBA. He stopped caring about his stats and did what was required to win. It gave him good habits because the team practiced twice a day, which had a domino effect on his routine, diet and sleep. Most importantly, he produced.

“He would steal baskets that weren’t his,” said Jason Boone, O’Neale’s teammate at Riesen. “He would be in the front of the press, we’d pick up full court, he would rip the point guard and go down and get a dunk. We would trap someone, get a deflection, he would run down and get a dunk. He was responsible for a lot of the offensive firepower because he could shoot from 3, he was a tough matchup, we would call isos for him. … He acted ahead of his age.”

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Interest for O’Neale to return to the states started to pick up after his first year in Germany when Riesen faced Bayern Munich in the playoffs. Maxi Kleber, currently with the Mavericks, was their star player. Throughout the week, the players discussed how best to guard Kleber when the chin-strapped rookie from Texas decided to abruptly end the Kleber conversation. “He’s got to guard me,” O’Neale told the team.

“That end-of-the-year series put him on a lot of people’s maps,” said Kerron Johnson, another Riesen teammate. “He destroyed Maxi in that series.”

O’Neale spent another year in Europe, playing in Spain but added a clause in his contract so he could return home if the NBA came calling. He signed with the Jazz to compete for the final roster spot in 2017 and got it. In Utah, O’Neale became Donovan Mitchell’s best friend and on-court wingman with a core that became playoff regulars. Utah coach Quin Snyder used to tell O’Neale “just run and play defense,” and the result was consistently shooting around 38 percent from 3 while being a factor on one of the league’s best defenses.

The trade to Brooklyn signaled the end of an era in Utah as Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Snyder all followed O’Neale out. With the Nets, O’Neale has proven to be reliable, which the team has lacked because of injuries and attrition in recent years. He hit a 3 to seal the team’s first win of the season against Toronto and has had two putbacks before the buzzer to secure two more. In the Nets’ 28-point comeback win in Boston earlier in March, he aided in the rally where he was both a point guard and a center in lineups.

“He can do everything,” said Jerome Tang, Kansas State head coach who coached O’Neale as an assistant at Baylor. “He’s really a point guard in the way he passes and he just brings people together. If you need him to make a shot he can make a shot but he’s going to make the extra pass, he’s going to set a screen, he’s going to get an offensive rebound he’s going to do whatever it takes to win.

“You know how glue just fits in and sticks in together, that’s what he does.”

Shortly after the team traded Durant and Irving, which as a result, sent O’Neale out of the starting lineup and off the bench, Nets coach Jacque Vaughn had a conversation with his 29-year-old wing.

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“Nothing has changed,” he told O’Neale. “I still believe in you.”

A few things had changed. Gone were the team’s two franchise players and with them the Nets’ title chances, and in was Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith, giving the team an abundance of wings and therefore company with O’Neale on the depth chart. Over time, he’s found a way to make the most of his minutes, even in a reduced role. He’s aware it’s a skill that will help his career whether it’s in Brooklyn or elsewhere.

“Just being able to adapt,” O’Neale said of his season. “I mean been doing it my whole career even when I started playing. “… I think me just always being level-headed not thinking about anything but myself and how to help everyone around me be better and always bring my positivity and character.”

Lately, O’Neale has been a different kind of constant in New York. He recently got a billboard in Times Square for a Nike sunglasses ad. As a rookie in Germany, O’Neale spent some of his first paychecks on custom Italian suits, which led to Boone and his teammates reminding him to save some money, too.

O’Neale said his family has always been into fashion and, as he’s aged, he’s been a regular on LeagueFits with his colorful sweaters and X-men sunglasses. Scott Drew, O’Neale’s coach at Baylor, speculated what O’Neale’s endorsements had looked like had played in the name, image and likeness era.

“Royce has always appreciated looking good,” Drew said. “There’s certain guys that don’t dress for the occasion. Royce always has some GQ to his game.”

On the court, the Nets have learned the same thing.

(Photo: David Sherman / Getty Images)