The Brooklyn Nets are now the NBA's most desperate team. Their most efficient player, Brook Lopez, just got injured and is out for the whole season. They need to press the panic button.

The Nets are 9-17, they have a $190 million paycheck and they do not own their first round pick for 2014 (which would have been the only good thing they'd get from a miserable season).

When a team is this desperate, nothing is out of the question. On the proposal that the Nets trade Paul Pierce for Pau Gasol, experts weighed in:

James Herbert of Hardwood Paroxysm: "They should at least explore moving Pierce for him. With Kirilenko coming back soon, swapping Pierce for Pau would make Brooklyn more balanced. Not sure the Lakers would entertain the idea of trading Gasol for someone older than him, though."

Mike Mazzeo, ESPN NY: "Considering they're in win-now mode, they should explore all their options. With a lack of young assets and future draft picks, it makes sense to try to make short-term upgrades, i.e., pursuing a Gasol deal if possible."

Paul Pierce to the Lakers seems unthinkable, but they have actually explored this in 2012, when the Celtics were still on the fence of blowing up the Big Three and D'Antoni could not figure out how Dwight and Pau would work.

If the crazy trade happened, Pierce would actually be coming home. Pierce grew up in Inglewood, California. That's the city where the Forum was located, home of the Lakers during the Showtime era. Paul Pierce was a Laker fan!

"I had dreams of wearing a Laker uniform at that age." Paul Pierce shares this to ESPN.

He played for the Inglewood High Sentinels where he is now a legend. He eventually became an All-State Player and earned a scholarship offer from Kansas. The rest is history.

"Just to tell you, I didn't want to be a Boston Celtic. but I am a Boston Celtic, and I've enjoyed every moment of it." This was his statement prior to the NBA 2010 Finals. How about being a Brooklyn Net?

Both Pau Gasol and Paul Pierce are unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. Some would say the trade is pointless, but if the Nets want to replace the inside scoring of Brook Lopez (which Kevin Garnett is not delivering) they may need to pull the trigger.

The Lakers will be in a win-win situation. They can trade Pau, ask for an asset (although the Nets aren't exactly asset-equipped at this point) and still have cap flexibility.

Crazier things have happened in the NBA. For Pierce, his career would come full circle. That's a nice story to tell your grandkids.