The 2025 second-round pick the Nets acquired from the Pacers in the Edmond Sumner trade completed on Wednesday includes some light protection, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
According to Marks, the 2025 second-rounder – which is actually Miami’s pick, not Indiana’s – will be top-37 protected. If it lands between 38-60, the Nets will get it, but if it ends up between 31-37, the Pacers will hang onto it.
The terms make sense, given that Sumner’s $2.3MM salary is a relatively small number for a salary dump. The Nets had to surrender an unprotected 2024 second-round pick when they sent Sekou Doumbouya and his larger cap hit ($3.6MM) to Houston in a separate trade earlier on Wednesday.
Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:
- In a story for The Ringer, Kevin O’Connor takes an in-depth look at how the Nets constructed their roster and the role that talented scorer Cameron Thomas could play for the team in his rookie year. O’Connor also notes that the Nets players with whom he spoke seem “unmoved” by Kyrie Irving‘s vaccination status, suggesting the issue hasn’t become a distraction in the locker room.
- In his recap of the Knicks‘ offseason moves and preview of their upcoming season, John Hollinger of The Athletic writes that 2022 will be the first time in a few years that New York won’t have any cap room, but points out that the team projects to be well below the tax line this season and going forward. That flexibility – along with the team’s stash of draft picks – could put the front office in position to take a big swing on the trade market at some point.
- The Knicks‘ bench was one of their strengths last season and the team is hoping that bringing back many of the same pieces for 2021/22 will allow that success to carry over to the new season, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. “I feel like our second unit, because we’re kind of the same as last year, I feel like we’re comfortable playing with each other and it’s just a matter of getting on the court, doing what we have to do to either keep the lead, improve the lead or (get) it back if we’re down a couple of points,” forward Obi Toppin said. “We know when we get onto the court our job is to bring the energy and just fight as much as we can, so when the first unit comes back in, they know they just got to continue off of what we did.”