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UPDATE: 10:48 AM: Apparently the reason the Nets wanted to move players around was they didn't want Stephenson which removes any incentive the Hornets had to stay in the deal.
Nets unwillingness on Lance Stephenson has Brooklyn focused on dealing directly with Thunder for Brook Lopez, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 16, 2015
Last night, a deal between the Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets appeared practically out of nowhere. The Nets have been increasing efforts to move big man Brook Lopez, and the Hornets have been looking for a place to send Lance Stephenson all season. Get a third team involved and it looked like a match made in heaven.
That third team ended up being the "struggling" Oklahoma City Thunder. After last night's loss to Houston, the Thunder are 3.5 games out of the playoffs and could use a talent upgrade to give them a boost in the western conference death trap. If the Thunder hadn't experienced early season injury problems then this trade might have never even come up, but either way the Thunder are clearly open to trades.
Well it looks like any trades involving these three teams aren't happening any time soon. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer said the trade is dead...for now.
The 3-way deal involving the Hornets, Nets and Thunder is dead, at least for now. an informed NBA source told the Observer.
— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) January 16, 2015
The reasons why the trade is dead is the Nets apparently wanted to change around some of the players in the deal and that caused a hold up. After the talks went late into last night the teams went to bed with no deal completed. Talks then reached a stand still and the trade was reported dead early this morning, but Bonnell leaves room for them to open up again.
The Nets are heavily interested in moving Brook Lopez and the Hornets have been trying to move Stephenson for some time now. It won't be surprising if the two teams open up talks again but for now it looks like Stephenson is sticking around in Charlotte.