Nets Notes: Allen, Durant, Harden

Nets center Jarrett Allen didn’t receive a rookie scale contract extension prior to Monday’s deadline in part because of luxury tax concerns. However, head coach Steve Nash believes Allen will get rewarded handsomely down the line, according to Chris Milholen of NetsDaily. “He’s got a bright future,” Nash said. “He is going to have a big contract whenever the time is and we are just trying to figure out who we are as a team.” Brooklyn can make Allen a restricted free agent next summer by extending him a $5.66MM qualifying offer.

We have more on the Nets:

  • Kevin Durant has played like an All-Star in his first two games since returning from a ruptured Achilles tendon. It’s still too early to know the long-term impact of the injury, Alex Schiffer of The Athletic notes. Nash warns against any knee-jerk reactions. “He looks like Kevin, he plays like Kevin, but I don’t want to start making expectations of him until he gets going and gets some games and some rhythm under his belt and adapts to playing three in four nights and playing almost every other night for a stretch,” Nash said.
  • In the short run, Durant has been everything the franchise hoped when it signed him to a max deal, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes. Durant had 29 points in 33 minutes against the Celtics on Christmas Day and the Nets can expect to have the best player on the floor most nights with him in the lineup.
  • Nash talks regularly with GM Sean Marks, but the subject of a potential James Harden deal hasn’t come up, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The disgruntled Rockets star initially said he wanted to be traded to Brooklyn but subsequently expanded his wish list. “I haven’t had any conversations about him,” Nash said. “So, you know, we definitely work in close proximity. I haven’t any conversations or any alerts, so maybe that says it all.”
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