Brooklyn Nets Off-Season Preview
The Brooklyn Nets are going into their first off-season of a full rebuild. They already have an up-and-coming coach in Jordi Fernandez and have acquired numerous first-round picks. They are going to be very flexible this summer with a lot of decisions to be made, but the biggest priority needs to be drafting a player to build around.
In this off-season preview, I laid out the contracts, options, free agents, top priorities, draft picks/fits, free agent fits, and more to give a complete picture of what the summer looks like for the Brooklyn Nets.
Under Contract:
Nicolas Claxton: 3 Years Left – $69.44M (4 Years - $97.0M)
Cameron Johnson: 2 Years Left – $43.04M (4 Years - $94.5M), Extension Eligible
Noah Clowney: 2 Years Left – $8.81M (4 Years - $15.15M, Rookie Contract), Last Year is Team Option
Dariq Whitehead: 2 Years Left – $8.63M (4 Years - $14.71M, Rookie Contract), Last Year is Team Option
Maxwell Lewis: 2 Years Left – $4.63M (4 Years - $7.64M, Rookie Contract), $100K Guaranteed, Last Year is Team Option
Drew Timme: 1 Year Left – $1.96M (2 Years - $2.07M), Non-Guaranteed
Options:
Keon Johnson: Team Option – $2.35M
Jalen Wilson: Team Option – $2.22M
Tyrese Martin: Team Option – $2.19M
Free Agents:
D’Angelo Russell: UFA
De’Anthony Melton: UFA
Ziaire Williams: RFA
Cameron Thomas: RFA
Day-Ron Sharpe: RFA
Trendon Watford: UFA
Cap Space:
Projected Practical Cap Space: $91.81M
Projected Maximum Cap Space: $91.54M
*According to Spotrac.com
Draft Picks:
1st Round
Projected 6th Pick
19th Pick (via MIL)
26th Pick (via NYK)
27th Pick (via HOU)
2nd Round
36th Pick
Top Priorities/Team Needs:
Draft Future Building Block
The Brooklyn Nets are in a full rebuild now, and while they have a few solid rotation players, they don’t have a player to build around yet. With the projected 6th pick in the draft, they likely won’t get a number one option (unless they jump in the top two), but they can get a building block for the future.
Cap Space
The Brooklyn Nets will have the most cap space in the league this summer with $91M+ to spend. After signing all four draft picks, that number drops to around $73.5M, with $81M on the books. The maximum cap space without going into the luxury tax is $154.65M, and teams are required to spend 90% of the salary cap ($139.2M) when the regular season starts, according to Bobby Marks at ESPN, so the Nets will be active in free agency. They need to spend, at minimum, $58.2M to reach the salary cap floor.
Cam Thomas and Day-Ron Sharpe are restricted free agents likely to return, while D’Angelo Russell is an unrestricted free agent and could return as well. This would eat up some cap space while leaving other avenues open.
Other options to take up cap space include taking on unwanted contracts with draft assets attached or signing short-term free agent deals. They can make offers for restricted free agents and take fliers on a few young players who haven’t had their breakout yet.
Primary Playmaker
There is not a primary playmaker currently on this roster, and they need someone to create plays and make life easier for the offense. D’Angelo Russell can return and be the primary creator, but he’s not a long-term answer. Adding someone in the draft should be heavily considered with the amount of picks they have.
Manage Draft Assets
The Nets have five picks in this year’s draft, four of which are in the first round. The likelihood of keeping all of those picks is fairly low, even though they have enough roster spots. The most likely avenues are to consolidate a couple of picks and move up in the draft, trade picks for future first-round picks, or a combination of both.
Trade Assets:
Cam Johnson
Draft Fits:
Projected 6th Pick:
Kasparas Jakucionis
Ace Bailey
Derik Queen
20th Pick:
Egor Demin
Ben Saraf
Noa Essengue
26th/27th Picks:
Nolan Traore
Will Riley
Labaron Philon
Boogie Fland
Free Agent Fits:
Cam Thomas
Day-Ron Sharpe
Jonathan Kuminga
Quentin Grimes
Josh Giddey
Final Thoughts:
One of the biggest positives for the Nets this year was the addition of head coach Jordi Fernandez. They were projected to be the worst team in the league this year, but their Jordi Fernandez instilled a foundation and system that players bought into and prevented that from happening. He looks like a future Coach of the Year candidate if the front office can get him good talent.
The Nets have tried time and time again to acquire stars via free agency and trades, and it has always come back to haunt them. This time around, they need to take the slow rebuild approach. They have done a great job of acquiring many first-round picks, including getting their own picks back. This, along with the immense amount of cap space, gives them a lot of flexibility on future decisions.
The fans and front office should be excited about the future of this franchise and should be patient with the rebuilding process.