Wizards were close to acquiring Jarrett Jack at the trade deadline, according to reports

The 2015 NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and now that players are starting to settle in with their new teams, we're learning more about the deals that did not go through.

As you may remember, there was a report that the Wizards and Nets were in talks at last month's trade deadline to acquire Jarrett Jack to strengthen their bench. It was one of many deals the Nets were reportedly discussing, but as it turned out, they only pulled the trigger on the deal that sent Kevin Garnett to Minnesota.

So what happened with the Jarrett Jack deal? Adrian Wojnarowski explained what happened from the Nets' perspective on WFAN on Wednesday (HT: Nets Daily):

"They want to make the playoffs. They could have off-loaded jack to Washington in a deal that could have included a first round pick. But they stayed with Jack. They wanted to make the playoffs and yeah, they do have a chance to do that."

"I don't know protections. But they could have had one. They were talking with Washington at the time of the trade deadline. I think if the Brook Lopez deal had gone down. then i think it would have been more likely because remember they would have brought Reggie Jackson back. So they would have moved Jack out. Obviously, you can't move Williams out. But they want to make the playoffs. That's ownership's mandate: they want to be in the playoffs. SO that's what you do if you're in management."

Salary-wise, the only player the Wizards could have sent to the Nets in exchange for Jack was Martell Webster. Clearly, the Nets would have been downgrading from a production perspective, so what was in it for them? Well, Zach Lowe provided the compensation details.

Re: reports that Nets could have flipped Jack to Wiz for a 1st: they'd have had to take on Webster, and "1st" was a pick swap, per sources.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) March 4, 2015

Keep in mind the pick the Nets would be swapping with Washington is likely the one they're getting from Atlanta as the final piece of the Joe Johnson trade. So all it would have cost to get Jarrett Jack was moving down from the late teens in the first round to the 29th or 30th pick. While it's concerning that the Wizards are once again devaluing the chance to get cheap, young talent moving down a dozen spots to upgrade from Jack to Webster, while only taking on slightly more money, would have been a sensible move.

At the same time, you can understand why this deal didn't go through when the Reggie Jackson-Brook Lopez deal fell through. With Reggie Jackson in the fold, there would have been no minutes for Jack, and they'd want a better pick so they could start developing a young core around Jackson. When that fell through, there was no reason for Brooklyn to pull the trigger on the deal.

So, it's time to let go of the idea that the Wizards dont' have Jarrett Jack right now because they didn't want him, or something like that. The Wizards needed a perfect storm of circumstances to be in a position to acquire Jack in the first place. When things outside their control fell apart, so did the deal. There's plenty of things you can choose to be upset about in regards to the trade deadline, but there's no reason to be upset about the team not having Jarrett Jack right now.