Billy King left his seat during the second half on Saturday night. You figure he had seen enough of the Nets on this night.

It’s surprising King – and the fans – stayed that long.

Maybe the Nets general manager had important calls to make. Maybe he was trying to get the Carmelo Anthony deal done now. The Nets are in need of a change, a major one, and have been for a while now.

Just when you thought Friday’s 20-point loss at Washington was as bad as gets, they give you a performance like this: Bucks 115, Nets 92.

The Bucks are better than the Wizards, granted. But the Bucks were without their two best players – Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings. They lost a tough overtime game against Miami on Friday, flew into New Jersey and landed around 2:30 a.m. The Nets played Friday too, but they didn’t actually play.

They should have been rested.

Yet the Bucks scored a season-high 115 points. It’s important to note that Milwaukee is the worst offensive team in the league and had hit the 100-point mark just once in its prior 18 games.

“This is one of the toughest nights we’ve had, especially for me being on the sideline,” said Nets coach Avery Johnson.

Devin Harris sat out with a leg injury, so you knew the Nets might have trouble scoring. Regardless, they have to do better performance than this.

Brook Lopez has to record more than five points and one rebound, especially with Bogut not in there. And they have to get more than three points from the starting shooting guard and small forward.

The Nets need to do more on defense, too. They can't get out-hustled, out-worked and give up so many easy baskets to the worst-shooting team in the league.

The Nets have to do something. King is trying. He’s working furiously. He and assistant GM Bobby Marks are coming up with all different scenarios to get Anthony, including the three-team proposed deal with the Nuggets and Pistons that is being discussed currently.

The Nets have to do something, and so do the Nuggets, incidentally. That team has been through enough. Anthony doesn’t want to be there and indications are that his discontent is negatively affecting his team.

That’s what happened in New Jersey with Jason Kidd a few years back. You can only go so long before you make a change for the mental health of your franchise.

The Nets don’t have a malcontent but they need change for the sake of their team's mental and physical health.

No team has endured more trade stories this year than the Nets. No team has faced more questions.

Not even the Nuggets.

The problem in situations like this is that everyone else gets roped in – Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, and down the line.

Favors, Harris and everyone else would rather just play basketball, improve and try to make the Nets better than wonder where they will be tomorrow. It’s part of the business. They can say it’s not affecting them, but you have to believe to a certain extent it is.

“We don’t talk about reports,” Johnson said. “They got a job to do on the court. You can’t pacify a guy with every rumor you hear. Throughout your existence as an NBA player or a coach there’s always going to be a rumor.

“You can’t talk about every one of them because there’s always something new every day. Until something happens, this is our team.”

The problem is it’s not up to them. The ball is in Denver's court, and Anthony's, too. Only the Nuggets can trade their star to New Jersey. Only he can sign a contract extension.

Those things haven’t changed. The only difference is the Nets’ losses, which are getting worse.

***

Follow me on Twitter: @Al_Iannazzone

***

Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)