NetsDaily Off-Season Report – No. 16

We’ll put aside for the moment news that the Nets co-owners are ending their marriage. It’s encouraging that Joe and Clara Wu Tsai issued a statement that their sports assets in Brooklyn will not be affected by their impending split, but the division of assets in any divorce can be a long, grueling process. So we will hope for the best, follow the news and wish the Tsai family well.

The other big news in the last few days will likely also have lasting results. The Nets finally signed the Magic’s Moe Wagner to a two-year, $19 million contract, essentially ending speculation that Sean Marks & co. were holding out on some last-minute roster moves. So where are we:

They also have Chaney Johnson returning as a two-way along with Tyler Bilodeau, their 43rd pick. One two-way remains open but our Connor Long believes the prime candidate to fill that spot will be 24-year-old 7-footer Grant Nelson who was on the Summer League roster but didn’t play as he recovers from jumper’s knee.
While Brooklyn also extended Day’Ron Sharpe and Josh Minott but did not offer an extension to Noah Clowney who will be a restricted free agent next summer. That means Brooklyn will have the right to match any offer he may be tendered. Motivation for the 22-year-old.
The Nets will also certainly be the NBA’s youngest roster again this season and they lead the league in both rookie contracts (eight). They will not break their record for rookie minutes, set last season at 6,716, of which the Flatbush 5 played 5,974. (Fun fact: Drake Powell led all rookies with 1,320 minutes.)
They retain their $9.4 million Room MLE and have roughly $4.9 million in cap space they can use this season. As for next season, they will again be among the league leaders in cap space with as much as $50 million, a function of having invested in all those rookie contracts.
The Nets remain at the top of the league in draft assets, per Yossi Gozlan ‘s capsheets.com with 13 first rounders, 10 of which are tradeable, and 19 second rounders for a total of 32. (Next closest is the OKC Thunder with 10 firsts, seven of which are tradeable, and 18 seconds for a total of 28.)
Then, there’s Michael Porter Jr.’s extension. Although he can be extended at any point through next July, there is an upcoming date to monitor. If a player is extended, he can’t be traded for six months. So, if the Nets extend him by August 11, they can trade him at the deadline, February 11. After that, they can’t move him till next summer. And of course, if they and he reach an impasse, they can move him at any time up to the deadline. With so many rosters set, if that comes to pass, it might be best to wait to till then.

Despite the word that Randle has told Brown Jr. that Brooklyn’s current roster will “shock the world” and the coach’s unshakeable optimism, the Nets as we have noted, kept their powder dry believing that since they aren’t likely to contend for anything this season, there was no need to expend assets. You know, the Marksist dictate that they’ll be no big acquisitions unless they “automatically and absolutely” change the direction of the franchise. They will go for broke when the time is right, they say. In the meantime, they will have to live with the near unanimous assessment that their roster is either the 29th or 30th best in the NBA (thank you to the Milwaukee Bucks.)

Of course, as we’ve said all summer long, if Brown Jr. and Demin fulfill the potential we saw in Sacramento and Las Vegas, then that’s a huge step forward. It would mean that their big gamble — trading assets from the KD, Kyrie and Harden trades to get back lottery picks in two generational drafts — paid off … lottery luck be damned.

What might the Nets do in the waning days of free agency? If anything? They might be called on to help with some other team’s attempts to make a deal, stay below thresholds or aprons and get assets in return.

Reviewing that night in June 2024

Most fans can remember where they were on some of the biggest nights in team history. When Rod Thorn traded for Jason Kidd in 2001, then again in 2004 when he traded for Vince Carter; when Billy King sent the team’s future to Boston for three players in their mid-30’s in 2013 and when Sean Marks engineered the Clean Sweep in 2019. Then, of course, were the Big Three’s exits.

Maybe right up there in the pantheon of memory is the night of June 25, 2024 when within a space of 12 minutes, news broke that Brooklyn had swapped Mikal Bridges to New York for five firsts, a first round swap and a second and had exchanged first rounders with Houston that returned the Nets firsts in 2025 and 2026 for a three future picks and swaps, all of them acquired in trades for Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. No Nets picks were harmed in the making of this deal.

The two trades, as we have insisted ever since, were essentially one big one that involved 11 first round picks or swaps plus a second, all in Drafts from 2025 through 2031 as well as a few players, led by Bridges. It is axiomatic that if a team wins a title as a result of a trade, said team won the trade, no questions asked. That of course happened in June of this year. “F*ck them picks” became almost as familiar mantra for Knick fans as “Go, New York, Go.” The two trades were also hedges against each other. If one didn’t work, the other held out some hope.

Still, let’s take a look at where we stand as free agency 2026 winds down.

So far, the Nets have picked up Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf, Mikel Brown Jr. and Tyler Bilodeau from one deal or the other. Figuring out the heritage of each pick can get complicated. For example, Bilodeau was taken by the Nets at No. 43 in the second round this year. That pick originally had been the Clippers but it was traded from the Suns to Brooklyn on Draft Night in 2025 as partial payment for rights to Adou Thiero. He turned out to be the 2025 second the Nets reacquired in the Knicks trade then traded after taking five firsts. The Lakers ultimately wound up with Thiero.
Nets also control the Celtics 2030 second from that deal and they have the Mavericks second also in 2030 , acquired in the trade that sent Mamadou Diakite, picked up as last minute add-on in the Bridges trade, to Memphis for Ziaire Williams. That deal had taken place two weeks later.
On the other side of the ledger, the Nets had to give up the Suns pick in 2025, acquired in the KD trade as part of the exchange of picks with Houston. That pick became Khaman Maluach, taken two spots after Demin.
What’s left? The Nets control the Knicks unprotected firsts in 2o27, 2029 and 2031 plus a first round pick swap in 2028. As noted, they also have the Celtics and Mavs seconds in 2030 derived from subsequent trades. On the other hand, they still have to give up the Suns first in 2027 and the rights to the two most favorable of Mavs’, Suns’ and Rockets’ first-round picks in 2029 to Houston. Brooklyn retains the least favorable first in 2029 when they also have their own first and the Knicks.

Ya never know what will transpire but the Knicks pick in 2027 does not look like a high one. Nor do the prospects for the swap of firsts with Houston, although the Draft next year is reportedly pretty ugly, particularly when compared to the last two, generally seen as generational. The 2028 Draft on the other hand is looking much better with the addition of a couple of international prospects. After that, who knows? As for the exchange of picks, let’s assume the Suns 2029 first the Nets gave Houston is a terrific. That’s fine. Demin will be in his fourth year, Brown Jr. in his third. We’ll take it.

Final Note

The Nets historically have never turned down an overseas trip. They lead the league in games played outside North American at 23 following the NBA China Games in Macao last October. It was their fourth trip to the PRC and they’ve played in arenas across the world, in Japan, England, Mexico, Italy and Israel. A lot of international teams over the years have also visited Barclays Center from Turkey to Brazil to Israel. In fact, in October 2010, after Mikhail Prokhorov bought the team, the Nets made the NBA’s first round-the-world trip, stopping in Moscow for a practice with the new boss, then on to games in Shanghai and Guangzhou before returning home across the Pacific. Have we mentioned that the Long Island Nets have played 10 “home” games the last two season as they try to build a fan base in French-speaking Canada?

They could have added to that number this year if it wasn’t for the U.S. war with Iran…

No word on where the Nets would have played, but the team has had long-term ties with the Emirate of Qatar (a relationship that recently came in for criticism from Norman Oder, the critic and chronicler of all things at Flatbush and Atlantic.) Of course, things throughout the region have been upended and no one knows for how long. It may be a while before the NBA sends another team to the Middle East.

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