Nets GM Billy King talks to media at a press...

Nets GM Billy King talks to media at a press conference regarding the release of head coach Avery Johnson. (Dec. 27, 2012) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Billy King doesn’t think the Nets are going to be major players in the trade market over these nest two days before Thursday’s deadline.

The Nets have reportedly been linked to possibly acquiring Atlanta’s Josh Smith, Charlotte’s Ben Gordon or Utah’s Paul Millsap, but King suggested the chances are good that the Nets may sit this one out.

“I would put the likelihood of us doing a deal at 10 percent," the Nets general manager said following the team’s shootaround at the PNY Center in preparation for Tuesday’s matchup with the Bucks at the Barclays Center.

Asked if that number goes for any potential deal, King said: “Yeah.”

King has an affinity for acquiring players via the trade route, so there’s always still the possibility that he makes a move. But he said he’s not about to alter his current roster unless there’s good reason to.

“I like to make trades when I think there’s a trade to make that can help the team,” he said. “We are at a point now where I think this group has got to play together more than shaking it up and bringing in a bunch of pieces. You look at the teams like Indiana, Miami, Chicago that’s played well, their core has been together for a while.

"Indiana hasn’t made a major trade in a while. Chicago, they let the group just percolate and play together. Miami, when they put their group they added pieces in the offseason to make themselves better. So I think you’ve got to be careful. This roster itself is not perfect, but I think it’s a roster that can win and it’s won 31 games, so the franchise’s best before at the All-Star break was 34.

"So we’ve had our big ebbs and big flows and we can’t overreact and think, ‘Ok, we’ve got to do something here because, jeez, we’ve only won 31 games and we are 2 1/2 behind the Knicks in the Atlantic and 4 1/2 behind Miami, so we’ve got to make a major deal.’ Sometimes you make a major deal, you can go the other direction.”

King flashed back to his days as the Sixers GM, pointing out how things went down in 2001.

“In Philadelphia, the year we had the best record in the east at the All-Star break, we brought in Dikembe [Mutumbo] because Theo [Ratliff] got hurt. I think after that trade, we were at .500 or below .500 after that trade. We did get to the Finals, but once the Finals ended, that team took a step back the following year.”

That’s why King, who’s in the final year of his deal, may wait until the offseason to tinker with the roster. If he’s back for another go ’round, that is.

“At the end of the season, the weaknesses you may see, you address them then,” he said. “As I said, Miami, they saw where their weaknesses were and they went and added Shane Battier and they got to the Finals. This year, they added Ray Allen and you look at where you are and you evaluate how far you go, then you can add to it that way. But if you are going to make a trade to try to solve some of your problems during the middle of the season, you may create bigger holes that you can’t fix in the offseason also.”

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