The Springfield Armor have traded rugged power forward James Mays to the Maine Red Claws for swingman Kris Joseph, a league source told The Post.
Mays, 26, was brought in by the Nets for training camp, before being cut at the end of camp and assigned to the Armor, the Nets’ D-League affiliate. He’s had an excellent season for Springfield, being named an All-Star while averaging 16.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and over a steal and a block per game.
Joseph, 24, was a second-round pick (51st overall) by the Celtics in last June’s draft, and was released by Boston last month after appearing in six games. Joseph recently re-signed with the Main Red Claws, who are affiliated with the Celtics, where he has averaged 18.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and almost 1.6 steals per game in 12 games with Maine this season.
By moving Mays, the Armor now are free to play Dennis Horner – who made the Nets out of training camp last year – as a stretch four instead of at small forward, while allowing Joseph and Carleton Scott (who was on the Nets’ summer league entry and, along with Mays, was invited to training camp) to play on the wings alongside point guard Ben Uzoh.
Joseph is a similar player to Damion James, the Nets’ first-round pick in 2010 and who they briefly re-signed to a 10-day contract last month, in that he’s an athletic wing who can run the floor and defend, but struggles to shoot from distance (shot 25 percent from 3-point range for Maine).