4:34pm: Lopez is still considering signing Charlotte's four-year offer sheet, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski says the Nets will match any offer sheet Lopez signs, but matching an offer sheet would prevent Brooklyn from trading Lopez for a full year (Twitter links). It looks to me as if Lopez is seeking a little leverage with the Nets, perhaps hoping to increase his fifth-year guarantee.
2:59pm: With trade talks for Dwight Howard dead, the Nets are now expected to finalize a contract with Lopez, tweets SI.com's Sam Amick.
2:22pm: The Nets are warding off the Bobcats' advances toward Lopez and are close to finalizing a five-year, $78MM deal for the center, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Wojnarowski's report seems to suggest that the fifth year of the contract would not be fully guaranteed, but would still ensure that Lopez would make more than he could with another team.
12:56pm: Lopez is weighing a maximum offer sheet from another team, according to Howard Beck of the New York Times. Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets that the Trail Blazers and Bobcats have both indicated to Lopez that they're willing to sign him to a four-year max offer sheet as soon as today.
12:43pm: The Nets have agreed to give Lopez four fully-guaranteed, max-salary years, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The two sides are still talking about a possible fifth year — since the Nets are the only team that can offer that fifth year, they can be more flexibile with the guarantee. The Nets' willingness to offer a four-year, max-salary deal means another team can't top Brooklyn's proposal in an offer sheet (all Twitter links).
WEDNESDAY, 12:13am: It's not out of the realm of possibility that Lopez could sign an offer sheet with another team, according to Wojnarowski. His report cites the Bobcats as a team with interest in Lopez on a max deal. An offer sheet would mean Lopez could avoid any partial guarantees based on games played the Nets might want in the contract, and would mean he couldn't be included in a sign-and-trade deal.
TUESDAY, 10:59pm: Lopez is close to reaching an agreement on a maximum contract with the Nets, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The two sides are negotiating the length of the contract, as Lopez can sign for four years and $58MM or five years and $78MM.
1:44pm: While the Nets continue to try to find a way to obtain Dwight Howard, the team's primary trade chip is just a few hours away from being able to sign offer sheets with rival clubs. In case they aren't able to acquire Howard, the Nets have been negotiating a contract extension with Brook Lopez and could complete a deal within the next 48 hours or so, says Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
Signing Lopez to a new contract would mean that the Nets couldn't trade him for Howard or anyone else until January 15th. While Brooklyn would probably prefer to maintain the flexibility to complete a sign-and-trade involving their 24-year-old center, the end of the moratorium means the team could have to turn to Plan B. If Lopez were to sign an offer sheet with another team, the Nets could only match the offer or let him walk, and wouldn't be able to include him in a sign-and-trade deal.
With Howard-centric rumors dominating most of the Lopez news we've heard so far this July, there hasn't been much reported interest in Lopez from other clubs. But you'd have to think that a team in search of size, whether that's the Rockets, Trail Blazers, or another club, could make life difficult for Brooklyn by pursuing Lopez, a scenario the Nets would rather avoid.
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The Trail Blazers have offered Hibbert. They are certainly looking for size. Fortunately, the Pacers matched the offer.
Get a deal done Brook, Nets! Only trade him for if you can get another pure C!
indiana matched hibbert so the blazers are going in on lopez
Wow, SWING and a miss for D12 to Nets!!!
Dear lord please let this happen then unless brook is trade right away Howard will not be on the nets this season. And if it is a max deal(usually untradeable) Dwight has 0 chance of signing there. Thank god. I can’t wait to see what this premadonna drama queen says about this.
NBA GM’s have to stop giving max deals to ideal #4 guys on teams. Terrible way to cripple your future and stunt the team as a perennial 6-8 seed.
They’re gonna sign him to a max deal to match the contract D12 has. So they don’t have to have a 3rd team involved, and they can deal with just the magic.
Didn’t read the couldn’t trade til December 15th part…
Corrected this since posting: It’s actually JANUARY 15th.
— Luke
if the nets sign lopez and wallace to one year deals .. then could they sign howard in the offseason ?
Not to a max contract (without a sign-and-trade, at least).
— Luke
they can’t sign wallace to a 1 yr.. they already agreed to a 4 yr deal..plus nobody is going to take a 1 yr deal when they can get what they want elsewhere..
then could they just let them both walk .and sign dwight next year .. but the reason i say wallace to a one year deal is then wouldnt they be able to sign diwght then resign wallace sine he will be thier own free agent to a contract that puts them well over the cap anyways .
There’s no way they can sign Dwight, even with just D-Will and Johnson on their books. It can’t happen, and it won’t happen.
— Luke
Is this guy really worth a max deal? 19 points and 3.4 boards on a bad team.
i dont think he worh max .. but pretty close
No way shape or form is he worth max money period $10 million a year maybe but $15 million a year don’t think so. The money being thrown out this offseason has been terrible by teams seriously guys that are #3 options on the team at best are getting max offer sheets just crazy stuff honestly.
if they let brook walk .. then cant they sign howard next offseason ..